Drawer cabinets

[Cort]

I had some 3/4" plywood left over from a project which motivated me to make a pair of drawer cabinets.  Each cabinet is approximately 24" square with five drawers.

It all starts with a base which is joined to side walls with Festool dominos.


Pocket screws help lock the domino joints while glue dries.

 

[Cort]

The bases for the cabinets are made from mitered, gusseted plywood





The pair of cabinet shells on their bases



Drawer boxes with side wall rabbeted for drawer glides.



Drawer glides being screwed into sides of cabinet shells

 

[Cort]

Fitting in the drawers



Painting the drawers.  The airless sprayer just made a mess of the drawer boxes.  Paint had to be sanded down and reapplied with an HVLP sprayer.

 

[Cort]

Recessed side mount drawer glides

 

[ear3]

What a difference a good coat of paint can make!  Great idea to sink the slide in the drawer with the dado.  Did you have to shorten the screw length to attach the slides?

Thanks for posting.

 

[Cort]

 

[Cort]

Great idea to sink the slide in the drawer with the dado.  Did you have to shorten the screw length to attach the slides?

Thanks for posting.

Thank you.  I found some 7/16" undercut drawer glide screws that were short enough to fit in the thin side walls without piercing.

 

[HMR]

Looks great.  Nice work!

 

[Gnovice17]

Those look great.  I like the way the glides are installed. 

 

[ajones]

very well documented build, thanks for posting.

 

[mike_aa]

Nicest looking Lego storage I've ever seen.  The recessed slides are super.  Really nice project overall and a great outcome to what can be done with leftovers!.

What coating did you spray them with?

Thanks for sharing!

Mike A.

 

[tom46]

Great job, always good to have loads of pics. [big grin]

You got a great sprayed finish to. Like Mike said what primer/ top coats did you use?

 

[roblg3]

GREAT looking cabinets!  Nice touch with the recessed slides. The finish looks VERY good.

 

[Gene Davis]

Hope you don't mind my critique, but it seems like more work and more material to use thick stock for the drawerbox sides just to be able to sink the slides into the surface.  Me, I would have made the boxes with 15mm BB and an applied front on each.

And your build photos indicate you may have waited until after carcase build to go in and do the hole-drilling for slides.  I do that before assembly, using jigs for layout and drilling.

That is some serious Lego parts storage!  Is the owner/user of these cases in the business of doing Lego-based stop-animation for Lego videos?  Like this one?   I always wonder where they get the Lego weaponry.

 

[roblg3]

I agree. It IS more work to make the drawer slides recessed that way. THAT'S why I like it so much! It's details that make a quality product. Going the extra mile gives things extra value. I also agree it makes good sense to do your drilling before final assembly. It's easier and makes it more likely for me to add cool details like recessed drawer slides! [big grin] which is a LOVELY touch.

 

[zachjowi]

Sorry to dig up an old thread.  The Lego cabinets look great!

[member=7922]Cort[/member] I sent you a few PM about your 18V, 4AH battery but not sure if you got them.  I would like to buy it.

Thanks

 

[Michael Kellough]

I often recess the slides into the drawer sides to recover some of that lost half inch.

It’s even slicker to mount the heavy (taller) part of the slide in the recess then you only need one or two screws to keep it in place and you only need to finesse the position of the little removable part in the carcass.

 

[Packard]

Nice job. 

I suspect that your cabinet boxes are significantly over-built.  (I suffer the same malady and mine are similarly overbuilt.

I use dowels instead of dominoes.  And I usually use Confirmats instead of pocket holes. 

I drill for the dowels and add a few pilot holes for the confirmats.  I think Confirmats add more structure than pocket holes.  I only use the confirmats where they are not visible.

I’m sure that your cabinets will handle all the abuse that your kids can throw at it. 

I built a tall version of that for my Mom’s sewing supplies.  But before I could finish it, she went to a nursing home.  So it sits in my home office holding office supplies. I’m going from memory, but I think I had 8 shallow drawers.  When I get home, I will take a look.

I never inset glides.  It makes for a tidy appearance.  Do you think it is a better choice than glides that mount under the drawers?

 

[Hotwheels]

Would dominos and glue be enough for the cabinet or are pocket screws/confirmats needed for strength?

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Would dominos and glue be enough for the cabinet or are pocket screws/confirmats needed for strength?

Dominos and glue would be plenty strong enough, but would require clamping (and the time lost while waiting) Done this way, you could continue right away, if that is important to you.

As a side-note from earlier in the thread, concerning spraying drawer boxes. Most of the issues experienced here can be eliminated by leaving the bottoms out, spraying them separately, and sliding them in after both parts are dry.
An assembled 5-sided box, is very difficult to spray. The air (of even just the fluid in the case of airless) has a bad reaction to being trapped. Eliminating the bottom and just spraying a 4 sided ring is far easier.