I’m designing an armoire – over all dimensions 68″h x 36″w x 21″ depth. The base will have drawer heights of 10″ and 8″ I’ve made scale drawings with 2 drawers 36″ wide and 4 drawers approx. 17″ wide, still 10″ and 8″ in height. My guiding light (read wife) prefers the 2 drawer design.
Question – what problems may I encounter with a 36″ drawer, and if any, can they be overcome through a design change?
Replies
How will the drawers be hung? Ball-bearing, full extension?
I would use either 3/4" plywood, or 5/8" solid (hard)wood for the sides, on a drawer that long.
Considering the height of the drawers, I would opt for plywood, for stability.
If a drawer is too wide compared to the depth; it can tend to cock side-ways closing; unless you use a center-guide or other drawer guide to overcome this. I would opt for a drawer that is closer to square in aspect ratio.
Edited 1/7/2005 8:04 am ET by mlbfreestyle
T.Y. for your suggestion, sounds quite logical
The drawers in these units are 32" and longer, so don't be afraid to do that.... They are hung on BB slides, work fine with one hand, and slide in and out silently. Don't waste your money on the euro style epoxy coated slides, they are cheap looking, and noisy.
Wide drawers can be done with good ball-bearing drawer slides. In traditional wood drawers and sliding surfaces, wide drawers would cock sideways and hang up. However, modern ball-bearing slides operate smoothly enough that they don't do this. Want examples? Look at cabinets called lateral files. These are file cabinets in which the drawers are much wider than they are deep. They often have drawers which are 36" wide and 12" deep. They also hold heavy loads. Despite this, good ones work just fine.
Most slide manufacturers build slides specifically for lateral files. They are very heavy-duty, and somewhat expensive. If you're not going to be packing your drawers with tons of paper, you may be able to use a slide with a somewhat lower rating. But still you should use a high-class ball-bearing full-extension slide.
willyeh ,
You should have no trouble with that width of drawer boxs , good advice has been given above. I build them that size quite often , and have super good luck with the K.V. 8505 full extension progressive slide . I use 1/2" drawer sides and a 1/2" drawer bottom to prevent the bottom from sagging .The 8505 is rated at 150lbs perhaps it sounds like overkill but works great every time.
good luck dusty
t.y. for your input. I'll get slides from Lee Valley; they have 100,150 250 and 450 lb at full extension. Do you use plywood, softwood or hardwood for the drawer sides and bottom?
Edited 1/8/2005 9:03 pm ET by willyeh
willyeh ,
I use Maple Apple Ply for the drawer sides and a standard Maple 1/2" veneer core for the bottoms of those large drawers.
dusty
ty
will,
If you don't want metal drawer supports, here is the way I fit drawers. Works for me up to about 40-42", beyond that I use a center guide (of wood).
Size the drawer front to length so it will just be a slip fit in the opening. (Allow for seasonal movement in the height of the drawer). I think 1/2"thick stock is sufficient for sides, back and bottom, for a drawer of this size. Lots of old work, particularly English, used thinner than this.
Cut the drawer back to length 1/16" shorter than the front. Lay out the length of the pins on front and back of the drawer so they are 1/32" longer than the thickness of the sides. When the drawer is assembled, and the d/t's are cleaned up, this will give you a tapered drawer, 1/16" of slack in the case at the front, and 1/8" at the back. A tapered drawer allows for some discrepancy in the case size from front to back, and is less likely to bind up. This amount of slop in the fit will in my experience not be enough to get crosswise in the opening, and is sufficient not to swell tight in the summer.
Regards,
Ray
With a span that wide, a heavy load in the drawer may cause the base to sag so much that it pulls free of it's dado's. Traditionally, the way to avoid this is to divide the span in two, adding a streacher between the drawer front and back, the streacher having dado's milled into its sides to accept a pair of smaller base boards. The rest of the drawer construction is pretty standard.
Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
I have an old bureau with two drawers each 50" long (!) and only 22" deep, and they have the bottoms subdivided, as Mike describes above. (They also have 1/2" oak sides, and run on a wooden drawer guide beneath. No binding problems at all so far, but it's only been 150 years or so.)
Clay
ty Clay - - I've received lots of advice - - now I'll finish my plans.
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