Built in drawers

[mailee]

On Friday I made a start on a set of built in drawers for an attic room. Again these are all in MRMDF and will be painted. Spent most of Friday cutting out the pieces, rebating and cutting biscuit slots.

I also got all of the drawer boxes cut out and slots cut for the bases.

Next I made the plinth up which was quick and easy as it won't be seen once in place.

That saw me at the end of the day on Friday and being behind with my jobs I decided to work Saturday for this one. Nice early start on Saturday and I had a dry fit of the unit and fitted the back in place to trim it.

Both of these units will need to be assembled on site due to the narrow staircase up to the attic. I then added the plinth.

I also eventually got some of the drawer boxes in the clamps.

I say eventually as when I started to use the domino for the joints I got through two full drawer boxes before I realised I had put the slot in the wrong surface! So much for trying to catch up. :roll:

 

[Mar_mite]

What kind of runners will you use?

Nice neat work on those angles.

 

[mailee]

Thanks. I shall be using the 45mm soft close bearing runners for these.

 

[Mar_mite]

How deep are those drawers? I recently did a job where I was making 300 deep drawers, but couldn't find soft close 45mm side mounts. I think the smallest soft close was 350.

 

[mailee]

The top one is 300mm and that is the smallest I can get in soft close. Their standard runners (no soft close) go down to 250mm. These are the ones I am using: http://www.bullerltd.co.uk/section/370/ ... lides-45mm :wink:

 

[Charlie Woody]

How deep are those drawers? I recently did a job where I was making 300 deep drawers, but couldn't find soft close 45mm side mounts. I think the smallest soft close was 350.

Buller do 300mm up to 700mm
www.bullerltd.co.uk/section/370/1/full- ... 98901f498c

 

[Mar_mite]

Good link. About one week too late. Should have asked here first, that'll learn me. I used the under mounted 300 soft close jobbies from ironmongery direct. A bit more faffing about but at least they work a bit better on long narrow drawers, less chance of binding up.

 

[mailee]

Got started on the drawer fronts today using Doctor Bob,s tried and trusted method.

I got this little lot done in the time it took me to drink my coffee.

I cut the drawer front panels out of 6mm

Then all hands to the pump to assemble them all. Which I did and put aside to dry while I made a start on fitting the drawer runners. By the time i had eventually fitted the drawer runners the drawer fronts were ready for sanding and trimming.

After a bit of fiddling around with the runners I got three sets working smoothly. (they can be a pain in the a*se with long narrow drawer boxes) and these were of course. :roll:


Still in the workshop tomorrow so should get all the drawers finished ready for some primer......fingers crossed.

 

[petermillard]

What's the soft-close action like on those runners Alan? Haven't used the Buller ones, but I had some Ironmongery Direct ones that looked similar (ball-race runners with soft close) that were quite harsh.

TIA Pete

 

[mailee]

Well Pete this is the first time I have used these in soft close and they seem to be ok'ish, read on. I got all of the drawer fronts finished ready for priming. I did have a lot of problems with the runners on the second unit and am still playing around with them. Strangely the top drawer is running fine but the third one down keeps skipping over the soft close dogs.The bottom one doesn't seem to want to soft close and just slams shut! :roll: I may have to add some shims behind the rear of the runners and give that a try. Gonna be one of those jobs I think.

 

[Mar_mite]

I found some soft close are more like self close. I feel your pain Mailee. Getting all the runners working correctly can be one of the most frustrating tasks. A few months ago a built a set of five drawers inside a wardrobe and used the ironmongery direct ones. Four worked perfectly, but the last one just would not work. Must have spent an hour mucking about with it.

 

[petermillard]

Thanks for that Alan - looking good, despite the runner niggles! Agree with you and Mar_mite - my experience was that some were OK, but some slammed shut like a the cash drawer on a till. And they all needed a bit of fiddling with!

Of course, in an ideal world we'd all use Blum and have customers that don't bat an eye at spending £50/drawer on runners, but...

Cheers, Pete

 

[mailee]

After all of the faffing around with the runners I have finally got the drawers ready for priming. :roll:

 

[mailee]

I managed to get all of the parts in primer today. I also made sure I labelled where each runner went with it's shims so hopefully they will all work once assembled again........fingers crossed. :roll:


I have another job on over the weekend so will get back to this on Monday.

 

[RogerS]

Do you spray finish, Alan?

And do you have a link to Dr Bob's Secret method?

 

[mailee]

Yes Roger, I do spray my furniture. I find it is quicker than hand painting and give a better finish. I am afraid I can't find a link to Bob's technique, might be worth a PM to him. i can tell you that it uses a two slot cutter with a 6mm gap between. A 6mm false base is laid on the table and the slots are cut with this in place. This is then removed and the tennons can be cut. Very quick and accurate method of making shaker doors. HTH. :wink:

 

[RogerS]

Found it thanks, Alan