Thoughts on a cabinet

Chris Hatfield

Former Member (by the member's request)
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I'm making a cabinet with a miter saw wing, but the wing isn't important in the overall discussion. I've cut the pieces, but have not assembled it yet and I am trying to figure out items related to the eventual drawers.

The sides were cut 24" wide and 36" tall. The cabinet height will either be 36" or 36.25" tall, and will have a face frame. I was probably going to use the Blum 3/4 epoxy slides as shown here, and the technical sheet shown here. I'm confused as to which one I need, and if the back panel needs to be more robust than 1/4" ply.

The cabinet will not be secured to the wall, and the depth could be adjusted down from the 24". That figure, BTW, doesn't include the face frame.

I won't be buying the slides tomorrow, but I do want to get it assembled and start being usable so final dimensions and technique needs to be buttoned down. Any insight you could provide would help.
 
I've never used those slides, but I'm fairly certain they work like all the ones I have used before.

You can use up to 24" slide if you have 24" ply on the sides of the cabinets and the back isn't dado'd into the back. You need clearance from the front of the faceframe to the inside of the back panel equal to the minimum cabinet depth listed on the technical sheet.


In european cabinets, the slides mount directly to the side. For faceframe cabinets, you can screw the front to the faceframe and buy a socket for the back of the slide that screws to the back of the cabinet. A cheaper and sturdier option is to screw a spacer into the side of the cabinet that is even with the inside edge of the faceframe, and screw the slide to that. Time consuming but cheap/sturdy.
 
Thanks for that. The cabinet build in WOOD clarified it as well, I need the 22".

So to do that, at cheapest, it would be $11 a drawer. I'm probably looking at six drawers, and that might be cost prohibitive. Even using single dovetail slides would be $9 a drawer.
 
See if you can find a local cabinet supply shop that sells retail. I pay about $6.50 for a pair of 100 lb bearing full extension slides. The regular kitchen cabinet roller slides similar to that blum are $1-2. blum is a name brand, and rockler is not a cheap store to buy hardware from.

You can also just use wood with either wax or some UHMW pads for slides to save money. Might also be able to make some that can be retrofitted later with rollers. You can probalby make some wooden bars to make the slides. It's more time consuming, but should be a good learning experience. There's an article on finewoodworking, anatomy of a table if you have the online version. If not, try and look at some old shaker style cabinets, or any old style cabinet drawer. End table, dresser, they all had pretty much the same wooden slide drawers in them.
 
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I've never used those slides, but I'm fairly certain they work like all the ones I have used before.

You can use up to 24" slide if you have 24" ply on the sides of the cabinets and the back isn't dado'd into the back. You need clearance from the front of the faceframe to the inside of the back panel equal to the minimum cabinet depth listed on the technical sheet.


In european cabinets, the slides mount directly to the side. For faceframe cabinets, you can screw the front to the faceframe and buy a socket for the back of the slide that screws to the back of the cabinet. A cheaper and sturdier option is to screw a spacer into the side of the cabinet that is even with the inside edge of the faceframe, and screw the slide to that. Time consuming but cheap/sturdy.

What he said....
 
KV1805 T22 WH White 21-5/8"


$2.46 at that woodworkers hardware, looks like the same type slide as the blum you were looking at. Thanks for that link brent, I hadn't seen that place before. My local store, Byco Plastics, only has a limited selection, even if the prices are pretty good.
 
I just recently ordered a bunch of those slides and some hinges from them. Very happy with the slides, the price, and the shipping was fast and reasonable as well...
 
See if you can find a local cabinet supply shop that sells retail. I pay about $6.50 for a pair of 100 lb bearing full extension slides. The regular kitchen cabinet roller slides similar to that blum are $1-2. blum is a name brand, and rockler is not a cheap store to buy hardware from.

You can also just use wood with either wax or some UHMW pads for slides to save money. Might also be able to make some that can be retrofitted later with rollers. You can probalby make some wooden bars to make the slides. It's more time consuming, but should be a good learning experience. There's an article on finewoodworking, anatomy of a table if you have the online version. If not, try and look at some old shaker style cabinets, or any old style cabinet drawer. End table, dresser, they all had pretty much the same wooden slide drawers in them.

I would probably prefer to put dados in and not use hardware, but I don't have access to a large amount of hardwood. I don't know how well plywood would slide on plywood even with wax or UHMW (I have some tape).

I certainly don't mind using the super cheap $1-$2 slides, if I can find them. My additional cost was from factoring in the mounts which were $4 a set.

I suppose the other option I have is to make shelves and fit the drawers to sit on the shelves and slide on the tape. That might be the easiest and cheapest option. Just have to use a bit more 3/4" ply and make the shelves and a center divider.
 
Upon further reflection, I think I do have a bit of poplar left over from a rail and stile project. Would that work, dados on both the drawer and cabinet, with a strip of poplar in the cabinet?

I do have some maple and purpleheart, but I was hoping to hold on to those.
 
Upon further reflection, I think I do have a bit of poplar left over from a rail and stile project. Would that work, dados on both the drawer and cabinet, with a strip of poplar in the cabinet?

I do have some maple and purpleheart, but I was hoping to hold on to those.

The first project I ever did back in the 70's was a toolbox I made for my dad that had wood slides of my own making. It is overloaded to the max with wrenches, and still slides in and out just fine. I tried to make him another one because that one is an embarassment, but he would not give up the old one.:rolleyes:


Wood slides are fine, but I would recommend hardwood. then rub some graphite on them. A graphite stick works best, but if you have dri-slide spray or something similar that will work as well.
 
I'm such an idiot. I've read this thread a dozen times and it just now occurred to me that since I made a center divider/support for the cabinet I wouldn't need to beef up the rear panel or use the brackets - they attach directly to the sides like Jeb said. Even if I make a face frame I could use a spacer to bring it flush to the frame.

I'm considering ordering from that WWH website, but I'm not clear on if the price listed is for individual slides or a pair (order 1 or two for one drawer).

I was also considering using the full extension slides that Brent posted for the bottom drawers and the 3/4 for everything else - reasoning that I could make the drawers 3/4 length and they'd function as full extension since I don't need 22-24" drawers.
 
I was hoping to do something this weekend, but it sounds like WWH is the place to go. Six drawers for under $30 shipped seems like an incredible deal.
 
I picked up a 22" Blum from Woodcraft on Friday for $5.99. It is more expensive than ordering from WWH, but I thought it might be a decent investment to buy one and make sure it's what I want before I place an order.

Assuming I get a chance to assemble a drawer, I'll place my order on Monday. Unfortunately, with how far Restore is, and the hours they keep preclude me from getting to see them for awhile.
 
The sides were cut 24" wide and 36" tall. The cabinet height will either be 36" or 36.25" tall, and will have a face frame. I was probably going to use the Blum 3/4 epoxy slides as shown. I'm confused as to which one I need, and if the back panel needs to be more robust than 1/4" ply.

Chris,

You said that you already cut the sides to 24". A tip for next time is to cut the sides to 23.75. That way you can get two sides from a sheet of plywood and save a lot of material.

I use the cheap 22" 3/4 extension slides and am very happy with how they work. With over a hundred drawers in the shop a little economy helps out a lot…

By the way, a 1/4" back makes for a very strong cabinet.
 

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