Shop Drawers?

Brent Dowell

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Anybody have a good/quick/easy design for making sturdy drawers for shop cabinets?

Looking to start making a bunch. Probably make them out of 1/2" ply for the sides, 1/4" ply bottoms. Thanks!
 
Anybody have a good/quick/easy design for making sturdy drawers for shop cabinets?

Looking to start making a bunch. Probably make them out of 1/2" ply for the sides, 1/4" ply bottoms. Thanks!

I'm in the same boat. I was considering using a drawer lock bit for assembly.
 
I typically make mine from 1/2 ply with 1/4 bottoms. I rabbet the ends of the sides 1/4" for the front and back, bottoms are dadoes in about 1/4 to 3/8" from the bottom. I usually put them together using glue and crown staples. I'll also attach 3/4" fronts on afterward.
 
I haven't had much luck on the 1/4" rabbet's for 1/2" ply. It's not a very strong joint in plywood and bad to break the ends of the drawer sides during assembly. I ended up just cutting a very shallow rabbit in the front and dado in the back of the drawer sides, then stapling the 1/2" ply sides together with butt joints. It worked well enough. The bottoms I did dado a little over the thicknes of the bottom and ran a bead of hot glue around the bottom of the drawer case. This seemed to make them a lot more solid. I was using UV ply because I wanted the pre-finish for shop drawers.

I've made a couple drawers with solid wood sides and they worked just fine with a 1/4" dado in the front. I didn't have any problems with solid wood breaking in the front during assembly.
 
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I use BB plywood. It's fine.

Here's some old photos of the drawers I put in my workbench.

I used 1/2" BB and put a rabbet in the side pieces, and glue and nail them to the front and back.

I didn't even dado the bottoms on those. I didn't want to lose the 1/4-1/2" of depth I'd give up doing that. I just glued and nailed the bottom onto the bottom of the drawer box. I used "kitchen" drawer slides, and they have a lip that wraps around the bottom of the drawer. So that gives it extra support. Six years later they're still fine.

ALSO: here is the link to Tom Clark's thread from 2008 on building simple shop cabinets. I've intended to use that approach if/when I build more cabinets in my shop.

...art
 
What are you gonna be using for drawer slides?

If you want to get rid of all the hardware, and make the cabinet layout more versatile as well, I'd suggest making the drawer bottoms out of ¼" ply, but making them actually wider than the drawer. Make the cabinet "Euro-style" (no face frame) and cut dado's/kerfs in the sides for the ¼" ply to slide into.

Cut kerfs every inch or 1½", and you'll be able to move drawers up or down as their contents change.

Lee Valley sells pre-made metal drawers that work on this principle, but shop-made wooden ones work just as well, and can be sized to whatever you like.
 
Very interesting idea. That would definitely cut down on the hardware...

Too late for my RAS cabinet, but I can definitely use that idea for some of the other cabs...

What are you gonna be using for drawer slides?

If you want to get rid of all the hardware, and make the cabinet layout more versatile as well, I'd suggest making the drawer bottoms out of ¼" ply, but making them actually wider than the drawer. Make the cabinet "Euro-style" (no face frame) and cut dado's/kerfs in the sides for the ¼" ply to slide into.

Cut kerfs every inch or 1½", and you'll be able to move drawers up or down as their contents change.

Lee Valley sells pre-made metal drawers that work on this principle, but shop-made wooden ones work just as well, and can be sized to whatever you like.
 
I guess I am in the minority here, but for my shop (which is still a work in progress) I used 1/2" birch plywood for the sides AND the bottom (using it also for the bottom makes it stronger and also prevents the drawer sounding like a drum). I used glue and pocket holes. Quick and efficient.
 
I use 1/2" BB for sides and ends and 1/4" DS Melamine for bottoms. I also use bottom mount SC drawer slides. And dovetailed together.

I have never manage to pile more in the drawer than the bottom can handle, but then none of my drawers are more than 20" wide.

I rip the BB to a width that is the multiple of the dovetail jig spacing. In my case, if I remember, it is 9/16" for 1/2" dovetails. I have it written on my jog.

Then I run the dado for the bottoms on the table saw. Then cut ends to length with a stop on the SCMS. Then the sides.

Pair them up and run the dovetails. Dry fit one and measure for the bottom. Cut the bottoms. Glue and assemble. I did ~24 of them, multiple depths, in less than a day. That included finish, mounting slides, and installing.

But that's just me. It takes less than 10 minutes to set up and dial in the jig. That's from the time I take the jig down off the wall to making sawdust.

I have a few techniques but I've rambled enough.
 
Hmmm,

Well there is the appeal of using something like pocket screws to build the drawers. That would certain be fast and easy and I do have the jig. From what I've read, they are also pretty sturdy.

I could use a drawer lock bit in the router table, that too would be pretty quick and easy, once I got it setup.

But I already know how to do those...

I guess I should probably break out my dovetail jig and give it another try and see if I can figure out how to make drawers with that. They would be strong, and I'd definitely learn something for a change.... :thumb:

Even better is that I'd use one of the tool I bought instead of letting it sit around just collecting dust :thumb:
 
1/2" BB ply, drawer-lock joint on the router table, 1/4" BB ply bottoms, false fronts, full extension slides.
 

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Pocket screws. Quick and hold well. Once you have the box where the drawers will be located, stop. Use some old boxes to store stuff for a while. Figure out what you are going to put in each area. Then do the drawers. This way you can make the right size drawers for each area and what they are to store.
 
Shop drawers? Same as every other set of drawers.

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I'm with Glen - I use 1/2" plywood

for drawer sides and bottoms on shop furniture. I keep heavy stuff - drills, sanders, planes - in those drawers, and 1/4" just is too flimsy.
 
I used 1/2" in the bottoms for my shop cabinets too. Rabbet the edges down to 1/4" and stuck that in a dado on the sides. My drawers were 28" width though to hold drills/saws/etc with 100 lb slides. If it were a narrower drawer, say 14" wide I think 1/4" would have been fine.
 
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I use whatever I have on hand for drawers in my shop. One set is made from scrap 3/4" plywood with 1/4" bottoms and another set is made from scrap 1/2" baltic birch with 1/4" bottoms. If I'm not mistaken my drawers are only 20" deep and I find that as long as you are under 24" in width then 1/4" ply for the bottom is plenty. If you need more support then just glue a 1/2" thick strip about 4" wide underneath going from the front to the back.
 
I've used SandePly from HD for shop cabinets and drawers for years. I use 1/2" for the drawers and most of the bottoms are also 1/2". Lock rabbets are used one the sides and work just fine. For the bottoms, I run the typical 1/4" dado spaced 1/4" from the bottom edge, then rabbet three edges of the bottom panel; the back edge is left full thickness.
 
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