# Wood drawer slides question



## Ohio Ron (Dec 22, 2007)

I am moving to a new area and will be making a new shop. There are so many great ideas in publications on doing just that. Most have purchased drawer slides on the drawers. I want to make my own slides and want some ideas of what is simple and works well. I'd like to have a drawer stop to prevent accidental messes. I have my own ideas, but I'd like to hear what works best, without trial and error. Experience is always the best answer.

Thanks in advance


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

The great big advantage of using "store bought" slides is that you can get heavy duty, FULL EXTENSION slides. To me that full extension far outweighs the fun of making your drawer slides. Particularly in a shop where the contents of a drawer may be heavy.

As far as making your own, I have made drawers with a runner on the sides and also drawers which just sit on the bottom.

G


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## johnv51 (Oct 27, 2008)

I've done simple square runners with dadoe's cut into the drawer sides on small pieces where the drawer wouldn't be carrying much weight. For a shop drawer I would stick to dust frame construction where the drawer rests on a piece of wood or plywood. The latest issue of Fine Woodworking has some drawer stop ideas in it.


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## gregL (Feb 1, 2009)

My wooden drawer guides are simple U shaped channels I dadoed out and mounted in the 1/2" recess below my drawer bottom. They are made of Oak and the 3/4" x 3/8" guide fastened to the frame is also Oak. I just made some drawers for my workshop storage and used UHMW tape where the 1/2" sides of thye drawer bottoms slide along the cabinet. Works great! I have some 1/4" UHMW left over from another project that I am going to use it on some other drawers I am building soon. I plan to fasten it to the drawer side bottom which is 1/2" baltic birch and use the UHMW tape where the drawer sides ride on the cabinet. Even with alot of weight they operate very smoothly. I also added the UHMWtape to a teak dresser I built in 1975 and was very impressed as to the improvement it made.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

johnv51 said:


> I've done simple square runners with dadoe's cut into the drawer sides on small pieces where the drawer wouldn't be carrying much weight. For a shop drawer I would stick to dust frame construction where the drawer rests on a piece of wood or plywood. The latest issue of Fine Woodworking has some drawer stop ideas in it.


John's suggestions are good ones. Below I made a sketch of the way I usually do it. I think this might be what John is refering to as "simple square runners". 
Which way to go is a matter of how much weight will you be loading into the drawer without the bottom falling out.

Here are some notes on the drawers that didn't attach.


*DRAWER CONSTRUCTION*


*This method is quick and easy. The bottom is locked in on all four sides. There is no reason to make the bottom removable if it is made from plywood. Many moons ago, the bottoms were made of solid wood and would eventually split. They were made removable so they could be repaired. This is no longer a problem when using plywood. *
*The front, rear and sides are glued and brad nailed together. *
*A solid front is then added when finished. If I am going to use a drawer pull with 2 screws, that will be all I use to hold the drawer front on place. *
*If I use a drawer pull with 1 screw, then I will use the one screw and run 2 brad nails in from the rear. This will stabilize the drawer front and still be easy to remove if desired. *

*The slides consist of a piece of hardwood dado’d into the stretchers and the drawer sides have dado’s which ride on the hardwood. I have used this technique for many many years and they never have gotten stuck. *

*The rear of the drawers are made slightly higher to catch on the face frame when pulled forward all of the way. This prevents the drawer from falling out. The drawer must be tipped slightly downward to insert into the carcase.*


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## johnv51 (Oct 27, 2008)

That's it Tony!


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

We be bad


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