IMG_0791
Skipping ahead here, I realized that my fix to the drawer width wasn't enough. I routed off 1/2" from the outside of the drawer. This made perfect sense at the time. As I arrived home from work to unclamp it, it dawned on me that I'd routed much of that from the panel itself that I was removing. Thanks to the rabbet, I actually did end up routing somewhere between 1/4" and 3/8" from the long walls, but it wasn't enough. To remedy this, I simply routed the sides of the new drawer to let the drawer slides sink in 1/8" on each side. This turned out to be just a bit too much (of course), so I added a #6 washer around each screw, under the slides on the walls, to kick them out just a bit. It's *pretty good* now, though certainly not the best drawer ever.
Note the little tape tabs around the drawer front here. I added 2 pieces of thick tape as shims on the bottom, and 1 layer on the left and right sides. These held this poplar panel dead center as I pushed it back to the drawer front, which I'd earlier pushed all the way back. I mounted the slides so the drawer would be a bit too far in, allowing me to add stops where I want them later. At first I tried smearing some wood glue on and letting the clamps hold it in, but the panels weren't perfectly flat, and the glue stripes didn't touch. I washed that off and used double-sided tape, pulled the drawer back out, drilled some holes out from the inside into the poplar front, screwed it in, unscrewed it, removed the tape, and then screwed it back together, and the drawer slides in beautifully, every time. There's only 1/32" of clearance on all sides! I may have to plane it down a bit, or bevel the back edges if the wood ever swells.
IMG_0791
Skipping ahead here, I realized that my fix to the drawer width wasn't enough. I routed off 1/2" from the outside of the drawer. This made perfect sense at the time. As I arrived home from work to unclamp it, it dawned on me that I'd routed much of that from the panel itself that I was removing. Thanks to the rabbet, I actually did end up routing somewhere between 1/4" and 3/8" from the long walls, but it wasn't enough. To remedy this, I simply routed the sides of the new drawer to let the drawer slides sink in 1/8" on each side. This turned out to be just a bit too much (of course), so I added a #6 washer around each screw, under the slides on the walls, to kick them out just a bit. It's *pretty good* now, though certainly not the best drawer ever.
Note the little tape tabs around the drawer front here. I added 2 pieces of thick tape as shims on the bottom, and 1 layer on the left and right sides. These held this poplar panel dead center as I pushed it back to the drawer front, which I'd earlier pushed all the way back. I mounted the slides so the drawer would be a bit too far in, allowing me to add stops where I want them later. At first I tried smearing some wood glue on and letting the clamps hold it in, but the panels weren't perfectly flat, and the glue stripes didn't touch. I washed that off and used double-sided tape, pulled the drawer back out, drilled some holes out from the inside into the poplar front, screwed it in, unscrewed it, removed the tape, and then screwed it back together, and the drawer slides in beautifully, every time. There's only 1/32" of clearance on all sides! I may have to plane it down a bit, or bevel the back edges if the wood ever swells.