Love this forum, hoping to get some help on a project I’m working on!
I’m building a custom computer desk with a sliding digital piano tray and looking to purchase heavy duty locking sliders for the drawer. This will be my first time building something with a sliding tray and most of the information I’m seeing talks about having the tray be the same size of the drawer for it to work properly. I’m wondering if it would work to buy two different size slides so that I can have the tray be smaller than the desk but still slide the full length? The table is going to be 24″ deep and the piano tray is only 14″. I want to be able to push the tray all the way to the back of the desk so that it does not take up leg space when I’m not using the piano.
The Sliding tray mechanisms I’m looking at are below but I’m open to alternatives if there is something else that would achieve what I’m looking to do. My biggest requirement is that it’s as heavy duty as possible though since there will be force on the piano and it’s also in an RV so it needs to be durable and having a locking mechanism.
https://www.amazon.com/YENUO-Sections-Bearing-Extension-Capacity/dp/B09V54XPQF
I’ve attached a picture of what I’m looking to accomplish. As you can see I have one example with the tray out, and the other example is with it pushed all the way to the back. Before I spend the money and buy the slides does anyone see any reason why this might not work or have a better alternative?
Genuinely appreciate any help or perspective. Thanks in advance!
Replies
You will need to mount two sets of slides, one inside the other. Think of it this way...
If you use the deep slides and want the piano to be in the back you'll have all the extra slide protruding 10" beyond the piano when it is out, not good in a narrow space. Pretty obvious that if the piano was on 14" slides you would not be able to play it.
If you used 2 sets of 12" full extension slides to create a "drawer within a drawer" they would get you out beyond the table surface to play and disappear to the rear under the table when pushed in.
Thanks for the elevator link the other day, pretty cool mechanism.
What a fascinating question!!
Had the same kind of idea as mj... With either two 12"slides or maybe 10" and 14"... So mount the outer slides to cabinet and a 2"tall piece of 1/2" Baltic Birch then the inner set to the Baltic Birch and the slide with the piano tray... Definitely would wonder about how stable that would be!
Other thought - Can you get 24" slides and 14" slides, use the 24" ones on the outside and the 14" on the inside... There would surely be a stop to grind off but would that allow it to slide all the way in? Would have to get both sets and see!
Let us know how you work it out!
Definitely some cool ideas, I never had thought of the "drawer within a drawer". I'm having a little bit of trouble conceptualizing exactly so I threw together a quick prototype to try and get a sense for what you're saying. Does the attached image look right? I made the sidewalls a bit bigger simply due to ease of design, but I could obviously scale them down if I wanted for the final.
I'm also thinking the second idea might work and will be worth giving a shot since in some sense if it works it might be easier and more stable. I'm going to order both the 24" and 14" slide and see if I can combine the inner and outer to try and have the 14" slide the full length of the 24".
I'm still weighing pros and cons of each scenario but would love clarification on if I'm on the right track with the drawer in a drawer design as well as any additional thoughts that might come to mind.
That's about what I had in mind.
Agreed - but that "side" between the two slides only needs to be the height of the slides (typically about 2")
WAIT! Another thought... Those slides they use for tables which take 1-2 or more leaves! You can Google extension leaf slides, or here is a link to Rockler ones - not sure if the lengths are right for your project but hopefully they have technical details available...
https://www.rockler.com/extension-slides-20-length?country=US&sid=V91040&promo=shopping&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=pla&utm_campaign=PL&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7KqZBhCBARIsAI-fTKI33GT8ojUrgki7pKrlmJGh2DE0rjOe2BLey-bhUoGPic0jqYzdiiQaAi5tEALw_wcB
That is probably a better concept than 2 sets of conventional glides. It would be simple enough to shorten the 20" length to something appropriate or even make them yourself. A couple of heavy duty ball catches could be used to lock in the open and closed positions but the wood glides themselves would be less resistant to unwanted movement, including the bounce I would expect from drawer glides, something I would think would be undesirable for piano playing. Attach a board to the bottom of the inside glide and you are set.
I think you'll have a ton of slop with those. They are just holding the legs apart and are firmly anchored on both sides & not intended to support a cantilever. Interesting idea though... maybe the steel ones would be tight but I doubt it.
Definitely an interesting thought - that definitely gives me a good idea on what the "drawer within a drawer" would look like since that is essentially the same thing. I'm going to do a little research to see if I can find heavy-duty versions of the extension leaf slides. I had also prototyped a concept for a folding support arm that locks under the piano so that when I'm playing I could have support from the floor in the case that I wasn't able to get enough support from the slides.
I ordered a 14" and 24" slide and I'm going to see how modifiable they are to fit two different sizes together. Either way I feel like I've got a ton of different options now. I'll definitely keep everyone updated on how it all works out.
Definitely appreciate all the help! Leaves me feeling very grateful for such an awesome community and I'm looking forward to hopefully giving back in some way going forward.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled