Thread: car furniture (sort of)

I found the worst bit (other than the price of commercial ones)was making the runners so I opted for a pretty agricultural design for the one I made for my ute. I used some 2” “L” section steel and some square section steel in the same dimensions.

I made the side runners by welding the square section to the inside of the “L”, leaving enough of a gap betweent the bottom of the “L” and the square for a bit of steel/aluminium checker plate to slide in between. A lip on either side of the drawer allows the drawer to slide along this gap in the rails – needs a thin coat of grease though. The mounts were welded on to the rails frame and I used bolts with high density rubber grommets (can’t remember their name?) to bolt it to the chasis underneath the tray. The whole frame of the tray was externally lined with checkerplate along with the top of the frame so stuff doesn't fly in/out. To keep out the honest poeple I put a fairly heavy duty internal deadlock on it along with a snib catch for day to day use.

As I said it’s agricultural but with an aluminium checker plate drawer and drawer front (which is all you see from the back) it looks ok.

I’d also be interested if someone with some expertise with steel knows of a better way of going about it without having to buy a grands worth of fancy drawer slides.

My bus has a canopy and I will carpet the thing with boat carpet when it's done. Eastie, yours sounds pretty tough but I have a dodgy back so the drawers will have to slide fairly easily when loaded quite heavily...... hmmmm lightweight shed door runners and tracks..... thinks! may go lookin shed and play a bit.....

On our work vehicles we have a similar arrangement made from kitchen draw runners and a MDF drawer, the sides are pine to hold the slide mechanism and blocks hold up a false floor over the wheel arches.
Cost less than $200 I think.
Not really an engineering marvel but looks and works OK.

Iain, sound interesting mate, any chance of a pic??

See what I can do but it will be a week before I see that vehicle again, will email it when I do it.
Its not rocket science though, just think of an oversize kitchen drawer with a false top.
Drawer can be anything you want it yto be and the pine boards give the screws something to bite into rather than MDF.
Runners can be bought anywhere, even Bunnies.

Chris Iain is on the right track so to speak. I have seen a similar type drawer runner like the use for Pot drawers in kitchens. You can get some pretty hefty units these days that extend as you pull the drawer out. They may not be as industrial as the commercial ones you initially mentioned but if you set up a stay when you extend the drawer to drop out when you want the drawer to stay open this may help carry some of the load. instead of relying on the runners taking the whole load. i have seen the commercial type you mentioned and they are real smick but at a cost.

thank you both, I will check the pot drawer people on Tuesday...... pics would still be good if OK Iain.

could have some runners in my back yard that will suit, out of an old computer recording truck.

ANDY!!!! Maaaaaate!

Whiskas slides didn't quite have the stretch I need but I rang a furniture industry supply business today and they can supply 'Hettich' brand drawer slides 1000mm long and rated to 200kg. One slight catch, $170/pair! However, when the budget recovers a little from all the money I have already thrown at the new bus I shall be investing.

Thanks Brett, that is the thread I had in mind ( I think!) but I had an address in Adelaide for much cheaper slides...........

You don't need runners.
In my previous incarnation, I was a surveyor. Believe me, the crap we carried in the backs of those vehicles beats your tool collection.

Our boxes were made out of 3/4" ply. Build a complete box - tops and bottoms. The drawers slide in one of the boxes, so they are running on the ply base, not carpet and the like. I a drawer does prove to be hard to pull (like they do when full of lumps of steel like we used to do at times), simply rub the bottom of the ply drawer with a lump of old soap (not scented unless you want your mates to think you're a pansy). Be careful if you do this, I was centre punched by a drawer one day when my offsider did just this and didn't warn me.

Those boxes used to last for years - I was with the dept for twelve years and only had one set of boxes made. We just moved them from car to car.

Following on from Daddle's suggestion, attached is a picture of nylon corner pieces acting as drawer slides.

These are on an armoire (chest of drawers) that I made from a kit twenty-plus years ago and have withstood daily use all that time with negligible wear. You wouldn't believe the difference they make to the smooth running of the drawers.

It seems to me that a scaled up version of these or, better still, nylon running strips under the drawers would solve any friction problem.

regards
Coldamus

Hi Christopha,

170 bucks sounds a bit steep. Hafele might be cheaper, check out page 829 of their furniture fittings catalogue :

http://www.hafele.com.au/isapi/online/tchff/tchff.asp


Justin