Wooden drawer runners

bustopher

I have to make about 20 drawers for a workshop. To keep costs down I want to keep this as simple as possible. I intend sitting the plywood drawer onto wooden (deal) runners instead of building the runner into the side of the drawer. I understand that these two surfaces may become frustratingly sticky. While i know about candle wax I'm wondering about other possible efficient fixes eg has anyone ever tried ironing edging tape to both surfaces. Nylon tape is prohibitively expensive for this project.

..Brian..

Interested to see responses to this also. Currently have 3 or 4 drawers to make for a wall hanging tool cabinet.

Matthias Wandel has a fairly detailed article on this very subject. https://woodgears.ca/drawers/

bustopher

Tks Brian. You link contains a mountain of info - good single reference on the subject. He refers to the design I am considering as a 'no rail guide' and the challenge of using two softwood surfaces. He goes on to cover making drawers easier to slide including UHMW or nylon tape.

In his 'Workbench drawers' project he uses this 'no rail guide' approach but reverts to hardwood runners with 2mm harwood strips glued to the drawer bottom edge. My question is does anyone have any successful experience of doing this another way so that I can i) save time and ii) save money

recipio

Have a look at the NK style of drawer making where a hardwood base is built first and then the drawer attached to it, but set in a tad from the sides.
I've done a few and it works a treat but is a little more labour intensive and needs a separate drawer front attached.
Have you ruled out metal drawer slides entirely.? They are not too expensive if bought from a kitchen hardware suppliers.

bustopher

@ Recipio,

Very efficient use of space and very simple - I like it, thank you.

I see from pics on the web that the runner is an L shaped strip of hardwood glued to the base. Can you tell me what you made the carcass from - was it another harwood?

Also did you buy or make the hardwood stip?

recipio

I made two 'mid- century modern' bedside lockers with a drawer, so the carcass was veneered MDF - to suit the style.
The base square /rectangle is made out of a good hardwood - species not critical - about 30mm x 15 mm is fine. I milled a 6mm rebate to accept a ply base. I then plonked the drawer on top of it and dowelled through from the bottom.No need to glue - just keep it square.
Don't forget the front of the drawer unit (which I made out of birch ply ) should be set in to accommodate the actual drawer front assuming its an insert drawer and it needs to be thick enough to be attached to the ply front with a few screws.You are far less likely to get jamming as the sides are set in from the sides of the carcass.
Search www.finewoodworking.com for a good article.;)

lgk

You can get slick / low friction tape, or cut the likes of this slick plate to size to sit on the runners.

bustopher

@lgk

Tks for the suggestion but from what I can find these materials are very expensive

lgk

bustopher wrote: »

@lgk

Tks for the suggestion but from what I can find these materials are very expensive

Yeah, you'd probably get enough for 10 drawers from the Rutland's slick board, so £2.50 plus shipping per drawer. Other options are getting sheets of polycarbonate or acrylic from the likes of 365 Plastics or Goldstar. Bit of work cutting it up (thin kerf blade in a 115mm grinder works well), but you'd get the price down to cents per drawer.

bustopher

PERFECT - Thank you, lgk

That's the ideal solution. The runners will be 2' squares approx so a sheet of acrylic cut to 20mm strips applied as runners and to the sides are an ideal solution for this job.

Thanks again

recipio

bustopher wrote: »

PERFECT - Thank you, lgk

That's the ideal solution. The runners will be 2' squares approx so a sheet of acrylic cut to 20mm strips applied as runners and to the sides are an ideal solution for this job.

Thanks again

Eh......best not to try re-invent the wheel.:eek: The core problem is your use of deal as drawer runners. Think of the thousands of times the drawers will be used in their lifetime.As you have the skills to make the unit why not use a quality hardwood like beech for the runners and glue a 4 mm strip of hardwood on to the base of the drawer sides before assembly. I have seen softwood runners in cheap furniture worn to a banana shape from use.!

bustopher

@ recipio

You are right there is a bit of re-invention going on and I agree that the main issue is with using deal.

However I'm now thinking of:
1. glue acrylic strips to the top of deal runners.
2. glue & screw the runners to the carcass with no dado.

Experiment with the following:
3. glue acrylic strips to the bottom of the drawer sides.
4. glue acrylic strips to the carcass sides.

Basically I'm just using acrylic instead of hardwood.

recipio

bustopher wrote: »

@ recipio

You are right there is a bit of re-invention going on and I agree that the main issue is with using deal.

However I'm now thinking of:
1. glue acrylic strips to the top of deal runners.
2. glue & screw the runners to the carcass with no dado.

Experiment with the following:
3. glue acrylic strips to the bottom of the drawer sides.
4. glue acrylic strips to the carcass sides.

Basically I'm just using acrylic instead of hardwood.

Fine, but have you ever seen this done and do you any experience of cutting acrylic ? ( you need a sharp 96 tooth carbide blade at least )
Its a pretty difficult material to work with. The best tip I can think of is to make the drawers as a rectangle - the deeper they are in relation to their width , the better.

bustopher

Thanks recipio.

I don't have any experience with acrylic so I take on board your points re:working with it.

I'm a little bemused by your point on rectangle v squares. Would a longer runners not increase the amount of surface contact of the moving parts and therefore friction?

lgk

These work very well cutting acrylic and polycarbonate.

More surface area for the runners means less weight per square cm, thus lowering the effect of friction.

recipio

bustopher wrote: »

Thanks recipio.

I don't have any experience with acrylic so I take on board your points re:working with it.

I'm a little bemused by your point on rectangle v squares. Would a longer runners not increase the amount of surface contact of the moving parts and therefore friction?

Rectangular drawers glide more smoothly - don't ask me about the physics of it I would never make a square drawer for that reason.
If you are using ply for the sides of the drawers, they are generally better side hung on a hardwood runner.That will get you over the friction problems. If made in the normal way,you may need to take a skim off the ply if the drawer is too tight but ( unlike solid wood) it looks terrible as the ply layers are exposed.
I'm using acrylic to make jigs for various router jobs. You really need a negative rake 96 tooth blade in the table saw for accuracy. Overall I think the side hung or the NK system is the way to go for a decent looking job.

bustopher

Tks lgk

My angle grinder may not give the best results. Have you ever used a circular saw with a guide and appropriate blade?

Tks also for the explanation on surface area

lgk

No prob, I've had good results using the small grinder and that type of blade, so I haven't tried sourcing a suitable circular saw blade.

I just clamp a length of wood to run the blade guard against and take my time.