First post, very limited woodworking experience. be nice. I have a wood twin bed frame with 4 – drawers on the bottom. 2 on each side stacked. The frame is pretty old, the drawer slides are damaged and need replaced. I store miscellaneous household items in the drawers, nothing too heavy. The drawer depth is 17″, but the width of the frame is 41″. I was thinking about extending the drawer depth to make use of the additional space under the bed. Maybe possible to 35″? The existing drawers are framed with 1/2″ hardwood on sides, 1/2″ plywood at back.
this is where you all need to be nice..
I have a table saw and am not inept. I do not want to spend a lot of money or time, and am not looking for a lifetime of use. I was thinking I could just extend the depth of the drawer by adding an additional “drawer box” on the back of the existing drawer, and maybe just replacing the bottom of the drawer to help with keeping the whole unit more stable. Are there any major hurdles or issues with that approach?
note: if you think I am a complete idiot. please do not read my additional plans/questions below, leave now.
I did not want to spend a ton or money and I do not think they make 35″ drawer glides. I already purchased 22″ Epoxy-Coated 66-lb. Centerline® Lifetime Slides from Rockler store. They were fairly cheap, $4 each. I was thinking I could cut and piece together 2 of the slides to make a longer 35″ drawer extension.
Voila! A cheap and easy 35″ extension drawer !
Scold away.
Replies
I'm not sure I fully understand what you are describing. I'm assuming that your photo shows the long side of the bed frame. I'm not sure if you have a similar set of drawers on the other side of the bed or not.
What you propose to do is not impossible but, you will find that is more complex than you might think. First, in order to lengthen the drawer boxes, you will need to move the back wall of the drawer compartment to allow for the extra length. That wall or partition is probably part of the structure that makes up the mattress platform. I can't be sure how that is built but it will likely be a major construction job in itself. Second, adding a secondary drawer box to the existing box would certainly be a simple way of doing it. However, in order to reach it once installed, you would need to have full extension drawer slides. These are available at the length you would need but, are not cheap as they need to be sturdy enough to cantilever the entire drawer length when open. Third, I think the best way to make the drawer boxes bigger is to remake them. You can reuse the fronts and backs but, you will need new sides and bottoms. As you do this, make them for side mount slides. These will be stronger and work more smoothly than the center guides you now have. Either that or use metal ball bearing bottom mount slides. The latter may involve changing the height of the drawers somewhat.
However, if you wish to keep the wood on wood slides and the center guide, you will need to lengthen them to accommodate the longer drawer boxes.
In my opinion, save the 22" slides you have for another project and get some new ones to fit the project. It is likely that you won't be successful in adapting them.
I can't do an estimate for you but, I can tell you that both time and money are going to be required. The amount depends upon the cost of materials you choose and your skill.
I'm not sure I see from your pictures where you feel you have 35 inches of depth? It appears to me that the existing drawers use all but a couple inches of the existing depth which is typical, especially with commercial slides.
If you intend to remove the plywood center brace you may find it is a structural element in that bed design and something that should not be removed.
As for the idea of piecing together two drawer glides to form a longer one I am skeptical for several reasons mostly because I'm not sure how you intend to attach them to the bed frame given it's type of construction. You would need to construct some type of sidewall to mount them to since the typical backwall bracket won't be an option 1 because you are removing the backwall and 2 because your drawer glides will be 2 pieces and unable to span such a distance.
Either way I look at this you will violate at least one or more of your initial tenets, you will either need to spend money or expend a lot of effort or both.
Looks like both to me. Easier to build a whole new platform. If you're looking to really save swap this out for a tall steel bed frame and buy rolling bins for underbed storage. Less $$ and less work.
Thanks for the quick replies. My intention was to keep the existing drawer back wall intact, and just add a new back box. So I would have a pretty thick divider in the middle of the drawer.
The back wall inside the bed frame (showing the existing depth) in the last picture is actually just a thin divider in the center of the bed frame. I was going to remove that.
I am not reusing the existing glides, I do have cheap side mount roller glides. The idea was to use 2 relatively inexpensive drawer glides I just bought. The way I would piece them together (see pic) for the slides that are mounted to the side wall of the frame: I would cut the "back" few inches off the one mounted closest to the front of the frame/opening, and cut the front off the one mounted half way down the frame, and butt them together so they make one long channel. Do the same sort of thing on the drawers. See attached for an example on one of the glides.
The drawer box extension is not your biggest issue
, your idea should work, the drawer glides on the other hand I think will prove to be much tougher to work out. How much experience do you have with mounting drawer glides? From what I can see in the pictures your bed is constructed with a face frame. In face frame construction drawer glides like you have are attached inside the frame at the frame at the front and usually into a bracket attached to the back wall. That method is not viable with your glides being in two pieces. You mention attaching them to the side walls but you have no usable sidewalls in your frame so you would have to add them. If you do that I'm still skeptical that you can keep the two sections aligned and functioning smoothly.
It seems like you have a plan you like.
Love these kinda projects... Built our daughter a bureau under a bed with 28" long slides - best use of space ever!!
I would start out by removing that interior back panel and vertical strips to make sure nothing is in your way. That will determine how long you can make the drawer(s). You will also find out how limber you are getting to back corners...
Assuming you can access the full depth, I would get good quality full extension slides - don't cheap out here! Big long drawers can get heavy and crappy slides will always function "crazily"... You can get reasonably priced full, extension ones up to 28" depth, above that prices skyrocket. Try Accuride or Fulterer ones from here or elsewhere:
https://www.cabinetparts.com/c/drawer-slides/side-mount-drawer-slides.
To make sure the drawer slides well, the drawer sides and interior of cabinet needs to be as parallel as you can get them. For the cabinet you can just add spacer blocks on each side to mount the slides. Don't measure to get parallelism inn the cabinet, use a stick cut to the interior width of the face frame and that is the width that you need to space out to the rest of the sides. That guarantees parallel walls. Then use spacers measured up from the bottom to make sure they are vertically parallel.
I think it is going to be very messy trying to extend that box... Do yourself a favor and just make a new four sided box. Can use cheaper materials from big box stores or Baltic Birch Plywood, just make sure you use straight material! If you have the slides mounted, you can them measure how wide to make the box. Can use nailed butt joints, pocket screws, biscuits, any manner of joinery to make the boxes.
In terms of the fronts, just cut off the sides of the current boxes and use that existing front.
Good luck - let us know what you do!
Whilst you CAN add a box on the back of the drawer, it will take no more time and cost very little more to make a new drawer box then stick the existing drawer front back on. You will almost certainly forget they are there when you move and lose whatever is stored within.
As to the slides, I doubt that what you suggest will work.
Whilst there is in theory no reason why you cannot to that, in practice you will run into width issues as the combined slides will take up more space and the slides themselves will be built to take the sort of weight in a shorter drawer, so are like as not made of thinner material, especially at that price.
If you buy full extension drawer slides with a suitable weight rating then they will be worth salvaging once the bed is no longer something you want.
Slides are available up to 1000mm deep easily which is a huge drawer. I have seen 1.5m slides (5') If you make a new box, you will still be able to access the stuff at the back of the drawer even if the slides won't allow it all the way out.
If you are really keen then you can make your own drawer slides or put in false plywood sides - these can be loose and slide out if the drawer is pulled beyond what the slides will allow. They won't last forever but if only used sometimes will last long enough.
TBH drawers that deep are seldom places from which you ever retrieve stuff. I recommend that pretty much anything intended to be placed in such a location might be best considered for donation to charity.
Yes you can add a 4 sided box my question is how do you access? Pull the drawer all the out?
1. If you cannot handle feedback you should not post. Don't be so afraid of criticism. Learn from it. Dive right in. I don't care how good or bad my skills are, esp as a female. I could not care less if criticized. Just forge ahead anyway. If you know what a table saw does, you are ahead of the curve of total human DIY experience.
2. Your expertise with tools is not the issue here. The issue is whether you have gauged correctly the enormity of the task you propose to do. It is far bigger than you think. What appears logical in design is not logical in practicality.
3. Think about it. Extending a drawer. You have to remove bottom, back, both sides. All that is left is the front. In essence you are rebuilding it.
4. No, you cannot play with slides and expect them to be structurally strong. Don't go there.
5. Question your assumptions and evaluate requirements:
a) Is the bed worth saving? Is this an heirloom or utility object?
b) Is the drawer worth extending or can I use the space behind in another way from the front?
c) What if I sold this bed on Craigslist, bought another bed, got hold of some free drawers on CL, added wheels and a cover and made a whole new storage solution? Might be cheaper and faster.
Your time is valuable. Question your basic assumption - is this bed worth saving and altering? If not, then find another bed. Don't look at the bed and try to fix what is wrong. Go higher in your analysis.
I used to sew clothes for my little girl to make nice dresses and to save money. I thought the way to go was to buy cheap cloth. But my labor was intensive - too much for cheap cloth. So I started buying quality fabrics and made fantasy/party dresses that cost a lot more in stores. I also bought well made cheaper clothes and adorned or altered them slightly to save on labor and still get a custom finish. This way I fulfilled her need to be a princess at times, and everyday clothes - personalized but easy.
While your views of trying to reuse an existing item is commendable, it is not worth your labor and frustrations to extend these drawers. The bed was made inefficiently. Your labor is too valuable to fix this flaw, unless it is an heirloom piece in which case, damn the cost and give it 100% to restore to its glory. If utilitarian, don't bother. Recycle it and get a new one. Not worth this much of your precious life to salvage it, the materials either.
Ah..is this called Fine Woodworking or what? How did you get here?
Those separations between the stiles and the rails on the face frame...hard for me to see how that can be part of the design. You keeping your rock collection in that plastic bin? I'm seeing a bed that's completely tweeked to start. That backpanel probably goes through the center of the span and is a necessary supporting member. The drawer slides your proposing are not likely to be at all adequate even for the existing drawer depth. Everyone is saying it! You would almost certainly have to take the whole thing apart to remodel it. You need to know a little about how things work before you try and reinvent it! I wouldn't waste time or money on that piece of furniture. Id put it out on the street myself.. Use it as it is and save up for what you want.
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