coffee table drawer

[mattym83]

okay i am building another coffee table but want to put a drwaer in the rail.
but i want to cut an invisible drawer... as in i want to cut a part out of the rail to use as the drawer front but do not want to have a frame around the drawer that is visible by looking at the rail.
my question is how to brace / make the frame sturdy and strong enough to be able to do this if any body has any plans showing how to do this it would be really helpful

Thanks matt

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

3 possibilities pop to mind:

1. If the legs will be relatively short & stubby, then a rail laid flat across the top of the legs would provide somewhere to button the top down to. The drawer front would, of course, conceal the rail. This'd require the drawer slides to be mounted at the two ends, but gives you a max. drawer height = apron height - rail thickness.

2. For taller legs where splaying may be a concern, move the rail down so it's concealed behind the bottom of the drawer front instead. With this method you could also put a couple of stiffeners/stringers across to the bottom of the opposite apron, thus giving you a few more options for placing drawer slides. It gives you the same drawer height as 1.

3. If the aprons/drawer front are fairly deep, then both the above rails would provide maximum strength. It does, of course, mean that you lose drawer height, (max. drawer height = apron height - 2x rail thickness) so means a bit of a compromise.

[Chipman]

Hi,

My coffee table (1200 x 600) is about 400 high and has two drawers side by side just like you want yours. The drawer fronts are about 220 high. To give it strength, I did it like skew said but one top and bottom. That is a rail above the drawer and hidden by the drawer front and one immediately under the drawer... it is 19mm thick and about 120mm wide. I can stand on it an it doesn't distort or flex.

Cheers,

Chipman

[mattym83]

thanks for the help.
Chipman you wouldnt possibly have a pic showing what you mean do you would be alot easier to get my head around it

Matt

[ian]

Matt

coffee table usually have relatively thick tops, structurally this is a help
you can hang the drawer box off the underside of the top

to make the drawer "disappear" you rip the rail stock into three
a top rail
middle bit
bottom rail

cut the drawer front out of the middle bit and then glue all three pieces back together.
done well, it'll look like one piece of timber with a square edged hole in it.


ian

[Chipman]

thanks for the help.
Chipman you wouldnt possibly have a pic showing what you mean do you would be alot easier to get my head around it

Matt

Here are a couple of pics... the first is of the front panel with the drawers and spacers made from the same piece of wood so the grain is consistent and the second shows how the drawers are fitted and the wide horizontal rail to strengthen it. The trest of the table has a top and bottom rail 40mm wide which gives something to grab the top with and gives a bit more of a feature to the sides
. I tried to do a bit of a sketch for you too.


Hope this helps

Chipman

(excuse all the junk on/under the table NOT mine!!!!!)

[Lignum]

Like Chipmans coffee table above, if your rails are of a substantial width your whole structure should be rigid enough not to worry about a bottom rail. But if it is a concern, you can still hide one behind the drawer face:)

[IanW]

I prefer to use two rails, the top one dovetailed into the top of the leg, the lower rail tenoned into the leg. The bottom rail gives you somewhere to attach runners for conventional drawers, as well as providing an extra structural member. You can either match rails & drawer fronts by cutting them from the same original piece or very careful selection, or you could overlay the rails with the drawer fronts, & not need any matching. In the attached pics you will see I didn't get a perfect match, and in any case, the effect of the single piece across the two drawers is broken by the divider. This was partly due to having very limited amount of starting material, & partly because it was meant to look a bit 'farmhouse', & not too precious, as requested by the Minister for War & Finance....

Cheers,

Woops - forgot pics!

[mattym83]

thanks for all the pics they are good to get ideas.
i want the look like chipmans pics but do you think it would be possible to mount the horizontal rails that give support behind the drawer front so that they are not visible?

[Harry72]

Conceal a draw, make the top 2 piece, put the leaves on full extension draw runners build a box for it to sit on, it can still have legs and have no draw to be seen.

Here's one I prepared earlier... Coffee table (http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=27757)

[Chipman]

thanks for all the pics they are good to get ideas.
i want the look like chipmans pics but do you think it would be possible to mount the horizontal rails that give support behind the drawer front so that they are not visible?


It would be easy to put the rails BEHIND the side panels and the drawers if you want this type of design.... see the attached modified drawing.

Cheers,

Chipman

[mattym83]

thanks chipman thats exactly what i had in mind in your diagram you said use biscuits is that for joining the rails to the legs? could you mortice and tennon them??

[Chipman]

thanks chipman thats exactly what i had in mind in your diagram you said use biscuits is that for joining the rails to the legs? could you mortice and tennon them??

Biscuit the top and bottom rails to the side board and mortice and tenon the side rails into the legs. (or dowels or could also use biscuits)

The top and bottom rails could also be done mortise and tenon into the legs. I really like IanW's way of dovetailing the top rail into top of the leg.

Regards,

Chipman:)

[mattym83]

my table top is 25 mm thick, rails are 135 deep and legs are 2x2 i wanted 3x3 but couldnt get what i wanted do you think the legs of 2x2 will be strong enough also do you think it will look out of proportion?

[Eldanos of KDM]

Help your Cause? I dunno. I made this not too long ago for my Best mate's engagement present. Now I have to make everyone something!
P.S Sorry for posting these

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/updagaryglitter/Andrew%20and%20Jem%20Table/Me-Happy.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/updagaryglitter/Andrew%20and%20Jem%20Table/Drawerinsides.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/updagaryglitter/Andrew%20and%20Jem%20Table/IMGP0966.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/updagaryglitter/Andrew%20and%20Jem%20Table/TableFront.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/updagaryglitter/Andrew%20and%20Jem%20Table/Table.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa235/updagaryglitter/Andrew%20and%20Jem%20Table/DrawerFront.jpg

[mattym83]

wow what timber is that
aslo i noticed that you had the table all glued up and then fitted the drawer runners. how did you attach the runners?

[Rhys Cooper]

wow what timber is that
x2, i think i have seen it when i was in tasmania...is it sassafras? that is the first name that comes to mind

[Eldanos of KDM]

Thanks mattym83,
I made grooves in the front and rear rails after building the drawer and did the same on the runners. Then I made small tongues to fit them, added glue, put the drawer where I needed it, (Gotta have height perfect) then clamped. I've only been a maker for a couple of years, and my father (50yrs Cabinetmaker) gave me this idea. I dunno If this is how it's always done, But now that I did it and it worked, was strong, easy and accurate, I wish I had never argued that dowels would be better:) I love that guy and I wont ever question him again:)

As for the timber?... Camphor Laurel my good friends. Pretty sure my Dad cut that too. ???? I owe him