Help choosing ply thickness

[akuaku]

Please could someone give me a pointer.... My first venture into the world of cabinet construction is to make some quite large drawers from birch wood ply to fit into a bespoke cupboard. The drawers vary in height (300mm to 100mm) but are all 850mm deep by about 500mm wide. I am presently thinking that 12mm ply on the sides and 9mm bottoms will be sufficient (the drawers will hold mostly clothes) but I really have no experience. Could someone please give me a pointer as to whether these thicknesses are about right?

I am using a dado and rabbet type construction for the joints and all the drawers will run on runners.

Many thanks.

 

[Richard S]

Hi, welcome to the forum.
You're spot on, generally speaking unless for some specialised purpose that requires heavier construction I always go for 18 / 19mm carcases, 12mm drawer boxes, 6mm drawer bases for smal drws and 9mm for larger ones.

Good luck and post a picture when you've finished

Richard

 

[custard]

I'd also normally use about 12mm drawer sides and 9mm drawer bottoms for the average project. But 850mm x 500mm are pretty big drawers, on the verge of moving from "average" to "big" in my book. Okay for socks, but if you're filling them with weighty stuff then you might want to think about beefier construction!

 

[jumps]

unless the draws are going to be very deep, and therefore potentially subject to significant load, I would be happy with 9mm bases at this size, but 500mm is too much for 6mm imo