Wide drawer on wooden runners...

[cusimar9]

I'm planning to include a drawer in a cot I am making. It'll be 1.4m wide and sitting a few mm off the floor.

It'll be oak framed with box joints, and probably 3mm veneered mdf bottom (or 9mm ply haven't decided yet).

The drawer will be split into 2 or 3 compartments with the dividers acting as supports for the bottom.

It'll be running on traditional hardwood runners, waxed etc.

I've never seen a drawer that wide on wooden runners... will it work or is it a bad idea?

 

[AndyT]

It can be done, but it won't be as easy.

There's a traditional style of wardrobe which has shallow trays instead of hanging space - as in this random example from an antiques site - http://www.rubylane.com/item/1042560-2118/Antique-Linen-Press-Wardrobe-Compactum-Chest

We have something a bit similar and the bottoms of the trays are about 3/16" mahogany with a single central muntin as reinforcement across a width of about 43".

On ours, there are shallow housings cut in the cabinet sides, into which a hardwood strip is a nice sliding fit. This strip itself is grooved on one side and on the top, so as to join the drawer sides to the bottom while sticking out an 1/8". The whole thing depends on good timber which stays straight, alongside really good workmanship so everything stays square.

I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from making a lovely heirloom, but thinking of the short time a cot gets used, I'd look at big kitchen pan drawers and use metal runners if I was making it.

 

[cusimar9]

Thanks for the tip Andy. I have found odd bits on others doing similar drawers so I think it will work, it just needs to be made very carefully as you say.

The runners in the link you posted is similar to what I had in mind, so that's good.