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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
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    Default Design of drawer runners

    I am making some 20 runners using Tas Oak for a collectors chest of drawers. The 16mm wide x 6mm thick runners will be screwed to the inner sides of the carcass, and the drawers will have a 16 x 6mm dado to sit on the runners.

    I am looking for ideas and suggestions on how to do slots on the runners, so that they can be adjusted to make the drawer fronts flush with the carcass edge e.g., countersunk screws or button head screws for these thin runners. The carcass is only 16mm thick. One of the problems is how to make a countersink bevel in a small slot.
    regards,

    Dengy

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
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    Shepparton
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    Default

    in the old cabinet maker days we used to use a roofing square and just line up runners to the front of the carcass with the square seemed to work out alright.

  4. #3
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    Default

    Thanks Mature_one, but my problem is basically how do you put beveled slots in the 6mm thick runners to allow adjustment of the drawer position, or do you use button head screws in stepped slots
    regards,

    Dengy

  5. #4
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Murray Bridge SA
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    Default

    To put countersunk slots in the side pieces use a router bit.
    Your drawer sides dado, I feel is a bit tight timber has a tendency to swell and shrink. I had a cabinet maker friend make a set of drawers out of MDF for my vehicle, he left about 2mm gap all round, when I got up around Darwin, I couldn't open the drawers, they had swollen up enough to jam in there.
    Kryn
    To grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

  6. #5
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    Mar 2008
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    Default

    Thanks for this reply, Kryn. What sort of router bit would cut a countersink slot about 5mm wide for the screw body?

    Ahhh...the joys of MDF, eh? But I definitely take your warning about the tight runners, so will make the side dados 1.0 mm deeper, and also shave a mm off the width of the runner.
    I have been keeping an eye on the humidity here, typically 70% at the moment over the last few days, but it will get to 100% most mornings. I am using solid timber, so the only expansion I expect will be across the grain - i.e the 400W x 45mm H drawer fronts will get higher with humidity. So I need to leave a reasonable gap between them
    regards,

    Dengy

  7. #6
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Murray Bridge SA
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    Default

    I'd use something like a V bit, should be able to get something in the 60 degree range, and you'll only need to skim it to create a slot for the screw.
    Router V Bit.jpg
    HTH
    Kryn
    To grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Canberra
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    Default

    Just a thought, and this isnt "traditional" (that would be for others here!)... but I use a screw on the back. I wind it in or out to get the faces perfectly flush.

    The screw simply stops the draw from going back any further. A small brass one suffices in length normally.

    One could also use stop blocks glued into place, but they arent adjustable.

    Let me find a picture of one of my drawered boxes

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