108 - Wood Drawer Guides.pdf

(317 KB) Pobierz
WOOD DRAWER
GUIDES
© 2007 August Home Publishing Co.
W
oodWorkinG
T
echnique
W
ood
d
raWer
G
uides
There are a lot of things to consider when
adding a drawer to a project. Of course,
the first thing you think of is sizing the
drawer to fit into its opening.
But the drawer also has to slide in
and out smoothly. So the drawer has to
fit loose enough to slide easily, but not
so loose that it racks when pulled out. To
help with this, runners and guides are
usually added. Of course, the types of run-
ners and guides you use will depend on
the project and how it’s put together.
Different styles of wood drawer
guides are used for different sizes and
types of drawers. Some, for example,
are mounted at the sides, while others
are guided at the bottom. I thought you
might like to know some of the how’s
and why’s of adding drawer guides. They
may be very useful on your next project.
are attached above a drawer to prevent the
drawer from dropping as it’s opened.
Side-mounted runners are one of the
most common ways to support and guide
a drawer. The case illustrated in Fig. 1 is a
good example. There’s nothing between
the top and bottom drawers, so the best
solution is to mount them at the sides.
Side-mounted drawers are a two-
part system. There are wooden runners
screwed to the sides of the case. And
stopped grooves routed in the drawer sides
that fit over these runners. The location of
the grooves isn’t critical, but I find its easi-
est to center them on the drawer sides.
These runners may sound like a lot of
work, but they do a lot of work. They support
the weight of the drawer and guide it as it’s
opened. They even provide a built-in stop as
the door is closed. The only thing you may
want to add is a catch so the drawer can’t be
pulled out completely (see page 2).
installation.
When installing runners,
you need to watch for three things. They
must be lined up with the grooves in the
drawers. They must be level. And they
side-mounted drawers
Before going on, it’s worth it to take a few
moments to explain the meaning of some
of the key words I use here.
runners.
Runners are strips of wood that
support a drawer as it’s opened and closed.
These can be located below the drawer,
above it, or at its sides, and they may also
serve as guides for the drawer.
guides.
Guides prevent a drawer from
moving side-to-side. Often these are thin
wood strips applied to the sides of the car-
case. But for wider drawers, the guide can
be located at the center, below the drawer.
slides.
Slides are metal runners or guides
attached to the sides of a drawer or below
a drawer. This hardware creates a gap on
each side. You’ll need to cover it with a rab-
beted front or a false drawer front.
glides.
Glides are added to reduce the
friction between a drawer and a runner.
Usually made of nylon, glides can be either
buttons or strips of tape.
stops and catches.
Stops keep a drawer
from being pushed too far into the case.
And catches prevent a drawer from being
pulled completely out.
kickers.
Kickers are strips of wood that
glossary
must be set back the right distance from
the front of the case. But this isn’t as hard
as it sounds. To line up the runners and get
them level, use a simple spacer. Its height
should match the location of the groove,
plus an extra
1
⁄
16
" for the gap below the
drawer. Then when attaching the runners,
all you have to worry about is getting them
set the correct distance from the front.
expansion.
If the runners are screwed
to solid wood, they have to allow the
side panels to expand and contract with
changes in humidity. Otherwise, the sides
of the carcase could split. The solution is to
use a slotted shank hole at the back of the
runner so the panel can move (Fig. 1a).
You’ll find that once the drawers are in
place, they won’t necessarily slide smooth-
ly. All that’s required is a little sanding. But
remember, with side-mounted drawers,
you should sand the bottoms of the run-
ners only. Sanding the top will change the
position of the drawer slightly.
Like the side-mounted drawers in the case
shown, the drawer at the bottom doesn’t
have a frame under it either. But I didn’t
bottom-supported drawers
1
a.
1
www.Woodsmith.com
© 2007 August Home Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved.
mount this drawer on the sides. Instead, it’s
supported from the bottom.
The reason is simple. This drawer is
large and wide. A large drawer is harder
to build perfectly square and exactly the
right size, so it’s harder to build it to fit well
in an opening. And because it’s wide, the
drawer will rack much easier as it’s pulled
out. There are two solutions to getting
a large, wide drawer to slide in and out
smoothly. One is to support the weight of
the drawer by adding runners at each side
of the case. And the other is to guide the
drawer with a center guide system.
runners.
To support the weight of the
drawer, I added runners to the sides of
the wardrobe case (Fig. 2). These runners
were made of hard maple, because it’s
both smooth and durable.
I installed the runners
1
⁄
16
" above the rail
cap at the front of the case. This automati-
cally sets the gap between the drawer and
the guide, which ensures that the drawer
won’t rub against the guide.
kickers.
Runners will support a drawer
from below, but drawers need support
from above, too. Otherwise, the front of
the drawer will drop as it’s pulled out.
With the case shown here, the shelf cleat
above the drawer prevents this from hap-
pening. But if the cleat weren’t there, you
would have to add kickers.
guide system.
Now that the drawer has
some support, the next step is to work
on getting the drawer to slide in and
out smoothly. On a narrow drawer, you
could add thin strips at
2
the sides of the case to
guide it. But with a wide
drawer, the best solution
is to guide it at the center
— below the drawer.
With a wide drawer, a
single guide works best.
This is simply a single
strip of wood that the
drawer rides over. To get
the drawer to ride over the
guide, I create a custom-
fitted groove on the bottom
of the drawer. But this
groove isn’t cut out of the
bottom (which is only
1
⁄
4
"-
thick plywood). Instead it’s
3
“built up” on the bottom.
To do this, cut a notch
on both the front and back
of the drawer and glue
narrow guide runners on
either side. This creates a
“channel” for the guide to
run in (Fig. 3).
There are two things
to keep in mind about this
system. You don’t want the
weight of the drawer to rest on the guide.
The drawer should rest on the runners at
the sides. So when building the drawer,
make sure the drawer bottom is high
enough to pass over the guide.
Also, you’ll need to add a false front to
cover the notches in the drawer. But don’t
be tempted to use this false front as a stop.
On the other hand, you don’t want to stop
the drawer against the thin back of the
case. Either of these “solutions” can cre-
ate problems for you later. Instead, your
last step will be to add a few stops and
catches (see below).
Drawer Stops & Catches
There are a couple of questions that
often get overlooked when designing a
project: “How do the drawers stop when
you’re pushing them closed?” and “What
prevents them from being pulled all the
way out (and spilling their contents on
the floor)?” The answers to both of these
questions are fairly simple.
The best way I’ve found to stop a
drawer when closing it is to add a stop
block (or a pair of blocks) at the back of
the case, like the one shown in Fig. 4.
When pulling a drawer open, the
answer depends on the carcase. If there’s
a solid panel above the drawer, you’ll
need to use a small block and cut a notch
in the drawer. Otherwise, you can use a
turnbutton (Figs. 5 and 6).
4
5
6
Stop In.
A drawer shouldn’t
stop against the case back. A
simple block does the trick.
2
Panel Catch.
To keep a drawer from coming all the way out,
add a turnbutton. When there’s a solid panel above the drawer,
you’ll need to cut a notch in the back of the drawer.
www.Woodsmith.com
Frame Catch.
When there’s a
case frame, a simple turnbut-
ton is all you need.
© 2007 August Home Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin