Drawer runners in solid carcasses

[Trav]

I'm planning a chest of drawers at the moment from 25mm tas oak and have been looking into how to fix drawer runners or metal slides to the carcass. I'm concerned that if I fix runners or slides across the grain of the carcass, I could be in trouble in the future as the wood starts to move.

Any suggestions of how to handle or avoid this problem? I'm thinking of a sliding dovetail, fixed at the front of the carcass. This could function as a runner or a mounting point for drawer slides.

Any ideas?

Trav

[ian]

Tassie Oak is always supplied quarter sawn -- expansion and contraction of the carcass sides won't be an issue

[AlexS]

Expansion is still an issue in quarter-sawn timber.
I use Hettich Quatro runners, and leave the screws slightly loose to allow the timber to move slightly. Never had any problems.

[fineboxes]

If you're going for traditional draws i.e runners below and kickers above.

Place a dab of glue on the back of the runner/kicker where is fits on to the inside of the carcass, drill
an oversize hole for the screw to secure them at the front of the carcass.
As Alex mentioned don't over tighten the screw but have it firm.


Cheers

Steve

[Bob38S]

Just a thought - do you plan on doing any finishing to the inside of the chest?

Have had success in the past by "finishing" the inside of the cabinet with a sealer coat - including the bottom and back - overkill - probably but not had movement issues.

Just a thought.

[Trav]

Thanks everyone. Seems it may be less of an issue than I thought. I'll have a think about how to proceed from here. It will depend a bit on whether I'm going to use slides or runners.

Thanks

Trav

[ian]

Hi Trav

another consideration is what will the chest of drawers look like from the front?
Often even a chest with solid wood sides has some form of moulding or decoration to create the look of a pillar each side when viewed from the front. If you go for this look, a traditional drawer frame can be used to hold either metal runners or traditional wooden slides, and the traditional frame uses an unglued loose tenon at the rear to allow for any movement in the case sides.