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Thread: Big drawers, heavy contents
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13th November 2017, 02:29 PM #1Intermediate Member
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Big drawers, heavy contents
I'm planning a "captain's bed", standard single mattress, built rather higher than usual to get plenty of space under it. Like an actual captain's bed it goes in the corner of the room so the drawers are on one side only. I'm planning 8 or 9 drawers in two columns, deep (c. 250mm) at the bottom to very shallow (c. 50mm) at the top. They'll be about 750mm wide (between the telescopic ball bearing runners) and 600 or 800 mm long (long ones at the bottom). I have acquired the runners (600mm @ 45kg rating, 800mm @ 90kg). There'll be non-structural overlay drawer fronts.
So far so good. But I don't know what to use for the bottoms of the drawers so they don't sag under load (e.g. a drawer full of canned food or heavy photographic equipment). The 8mm MDF or 5mm masonite I'd usually use feels seriously inadequate. I don't want to sacrifice height by putting stiffening ribs on the underside.
How have others approached this problem? I'm wondering if 16mm melamine particle board would be enough; or 15 or 17mm structural plywood.
TIA,
John
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13th November 2017, 02:50 PM #2
John, I use 17mm ply in some of the drawers in my workbenches, to hold Chucks, Sharpening gears and sundry heavier items. As long as the bottom is secured to the sides, front and back, it will suffice. Personally, if I was going that route again, 6mm ply with 12mm ribs, every 250 - 300mm, to save on weight.
Pat
Work is a necessary evil to be avoided. Mark Twain
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13th November 2017, 05:13 PM #3SENIOR MEMBER
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what photographic equipment are you storing?
I've got a fairly extensive SLR kit and including the pelican case that holds it all is around 15kg which shouldn't be an issue in even the most flimsiest drawers. canned food on the other hand is a different matter... kind of half curious why these would be stored under the bed and not in the pantry? Midnight cravings?
But if you're really concerned i second what Pat says, if you glue/nail the bottom in, you'll be surprised how much weight it'll hold before it begins to sag. Also spread the load over the entire base eg don't try and put a 40kg medicine ball in the middle and expect it not to pop out.
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13th November 2017, 06:37 PM #4Taking a break
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16mm particle board is plenty; you could literally stand in the drawer holding all your gear and it still wouldn't break.
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15th November 2017, 12:20 AM #5Intermediate Member
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Thanks for this. All the SLR gear is Nikon pro stuff, much of it from the "solid metal" days. Add all the accessories (particularly a lot of Alpa "Macrostat" gear that makes up into camera stands, light stands, macro stands etc.) and the weight mounts up.
As for the tinned food: currently our "store cupboard" is an actual cupboard in the room where the bed will go. It's easy for things to get lost at the back of the shelves, so my idea is to have big strong drawers that open fully so everything is visible. The store cupboard will then become a linen cupboard. All this is part of a staged conversion of this room from dressing room (with storage) to study (with storage and bed).
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15th November 2017, 12:36 AM #6Intermediate Member
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15th November 2017, 03:33 AM #7GOLD MEMBER
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Tinned food in a cupboard, you get to look at the labels.
Tinned food in a drawer, all I used to see were the blank ends/tops of the cans.
Laying them down, the drawers don't hold as much. Back up in the cupboard.
My GF bought a total new kitchen. Everything is skinned particle board. I'll guess about 17mm.
The cupboard above the fridge started sagging less than a month in. Bottles & jars.
If there was enough space, ribs of hard wood glued to the underside would help a lot.
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15th November 2017, 09:24 AM #8
Strong as hell
Had a client as me to make several "camping boxes". He had one of those pop up tent trailer things. The back swung open and allowed you to access a cavernous area, but it was impossible to reach to the back.
I ended up making six giant MDF boxes with large fingers and a rebated base. The sides were 9mm and the bottom 12mm. Each was 1000x600 and 300 tall. They had rope handles (cool!)
So so pretty big.
He was going to store all the heavy pots and pans and accoutrement in there.
To make them easier to slide in and out, I added two hardwood runners to the underside. Just glued on. The runners were perhaps 15x10 and glued sideways to the grain to resist bending.
They have been used half to death on a thousand trips and have held up very well. Zero sag.
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15th November 2017, 01:02 PM #9
Straight grained, clear Hardwood, Spotted Gum, Black Butt Flooring, Jarrah. You could even make a lattice pattern with half lap joinery.
Pat
Work is a necessary evil to be avoided. Mark Twain
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