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Home office drawers

vr_syd
Having an Impact

Home office drawers

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Following on from My Simple D-I-Y Desk, I now needed a chest of drawers to go with it, for storage of stuff. For this, I started from the inside out - designing the drawers to fit 15.6" laptops and files, and then working outwards to build the cabinet with drawer slides. For my purpose, I had 700 mm overall height to work with, as that was the available height under the table where these drawers will slide under.

 

Also, a huge shout-out to Harrison @ Bunnings Pymble for doing an expert level, extremely accurate and clean cuts on the wood panels - there was a lot of cutting and having it cut exactly to the dimensions I requested, made my job so much easier.

 

Materials Used :-

1. Specrite 1200 x 300mm 18mm Timber Panel Hevea FJ Laminated 

2. SpecRite 1800 x 405mm 18mm Timber Panel Hevea FJ Laminated 

3. SpecRite 1200 x 600mm 18mm Timber Panel Hevea FJ Laminated 

4. Taskmaster Oslo 96mm Matte Black Handle 

5. Zenith 10G x 50mm Zinc Plated Hinge-Long Threads Countersunk Head Timber Screws - 15 Pack 

6. Goliath Standard Drawer Slide Pair - 350mm 

7. Carinya 25 x 25 x 40 x 1mm Galvanised Angle Bracket - 8 Pack 

8. Carinya 25 x 25 x 20 x 1mm Galvanised Angle Bracket - 20 Pack 

9. Move It 30mm 20kg Grey Swivel Plate Castor - 2 Pack 

10. Zenith 6G x 15mm Zinc Plated Hinge-Long Thread Countersunk Head Timber Screws - 45 Pack 

11. Taskmaster 10mm White Screw Caps - 100 Pack 

12.Cabot's 1L Satin Water Based Cabothane Clear Polyurethane Timber Varnish 

13. Monarch 50mm Woodcare Paint Brush 

14. Timbermate 250g Pine Wood Filler 

 

I planned for 5 drawers in the cabinet. Measuring for files and 15.6" laptops the drawer dimensions were fixed as below :-

 

DESCRIPTION  LENGTH (MM)    x    WIDTH (MM) 
DRAWER BASE 400   x   280
DRAWER SIDE 100   x   382
DRAWER BACK 100   x   280

 

I cut out 10:1 scale model of the various sized pieces required in order to maximize the use of the available panel sizes and cutting requirements.

 

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Once all the dimensions and cuts on the panels were identified, it was off to Bunnings to get everything and get the panels cut to size. 

 

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Started off with making the drawers (without the front face) first, as per the above dimensions. Used long screws to screw the 3 sides onto the drawer base. Size check with a 15.6" laptop for reference :-

 

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Mounting the drawer slides was a bit tricky. I mounted the drawer slides slightly below the centerline, vertically centred. This would allow the slides to run smoothly without fouling the drawers below.

 

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Once, all the drawers were built and slides fixed, I used the off cut pieces to measure and fix the dimensions of the cabinet.

 

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Cabinet dimensions were fixed as below :-

 

DESCRIPTION  LENGTH (MM)    x    WIDTH (MM) 
SIDES                      637   x                      425
TOP & BASE                      445   x                      345
DRAWER FACE                      125   x                      345
CABINET BACK                      309   x                      637

 

I calculated a 2 mm vertical spacing between the drawer faces.Once the dimensions were fixed as above, off to Bunnings again to get the wood panels cut to size.

 

Lot of lines and markings to mount the drawer slides :smile:

 

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I discovered that rubber wood is a medium soft (or hard?) wood that splinters easily, so had to lower the drill speed. Had a couple of minor splinters like this, which were patched up with wood putty.

 

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Counter sunk all screw holes with an 8mm drill bit and then pilot holes of 3.5mm were drilled for 10G screws.

 

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In addition to the screws, I used Carinya 25 x 25 x 40 x 1mm Galvanised Angle Bracket - 8 Pack on the inside of the cabinet for reinforcement.

 

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Using the corner brackets on the insides of the drawers to mount the drawer face was a bad idea though - not enough space to get the drill driver to drive the screws in; and also impinges on internal drawer space. Switched to mounting the corner brackets on the outer side of the drawer was so much easier. All the excess drilling holes were later patched up with wood putty.

 

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I used the Carinya 25 x 25 x 20 x 1mm Galvanised Angle Bracket - 20 Pack  as spacers to determine the mounting positions of the drawer faces.

 

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Once drawer faces were mounted to the drawers, a quick check (and adjustment) of the slides to ensure each drawer moves smoothly and doesn't foul with the other drawers. Handles were then attached to the drawer faces.

 

All the math, planning, adjustments and accurate-to-the-millimeter calculations later (:D), all drawers move smoothly and close flush :smile:

 

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Now for the finishing touches: I tried to do a colour match with the desk I made earlier, but since they were different woods, it was difficult to get the same colour match, and frankly, required more effort than I could commit :laugh:

 

Removed the drawers, slides and handles and filled gaps/excess drilling holes with Timbermate 250g Pine Wood Filler  and then  sandpapered all surfaces with 80 grit, then 120 grit and finally 240 grit sandpapers to get a smooth, almost silky finish.

 

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I decided to do a clear coat instead of a colour match, so used Cabot's 1L Satin Water Based Cabothane Clear Polyurethane Timber Varnish - recommended was 3 coats, but I ended up putting 5 coats because I wanted to finish off the can.

 

I used screw caps to cover the screw heads. Finally, mounted 5 Move It 30mm 20kg Grey Swivel Plate Castor - 2 Pack wheels on the bottom of the cabinet.20220527_205515.jpg

 

All done :smile:

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The Cabbots Satin Clear coat gives an nice subtle sheen :-

 

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Gaps inside were filled with wood putty.Gaps inside were filled with wood putty.

 

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MitchellMc
Bunnings Team Member
Bunnings Team Member

Re: Home Office Drawers

That's some exception craftmanship @vr-syd. I'm very impressed with the amount of effort you've gone to and the overall result you've achieved. Also, I'm a massive fan of your chosen handles, as they offset the warm timber nicely.

 

I've passed on your feedback about Harrisons' assistance to the team leaders at Bunnings Pymble. They are thrilled to know of the service you received.

 

Many thanks for adding so much information to your post, as it assists any of our members who want to replicate your project.

 

Great work.

 

Mitchell

 

 

 

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Jason
Community Manager
Community Manager

Re: Home office drawers

Well done @vr_syd. They look terrific. Thanks also for sharing such detail so other community members can replicate your handiwork. I'm sure many will be inspired by what you have achieved.

 

Jason

 

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Noyade
Kind of a Big Deal

Re: Home office drawers

Now that does look nice! Solid.

Heavy?

Well done.

Re: Home Office Drawers

Thanks for the kind words @MitchellMc . I do like the handles too - initially I thought they might be a bit too big for the drawer face, but turned out just fine :smile:

vr_syd
Having an Impact

Re: Home office drawers

Thanks @Jason . Inspired to do this and so many other projects from the posts by other members here :smile:

vr_syd
Having an Impact

Re: Home office drawers

Thanks :smile: @Noyade 

Yes, it is quite heavy and very solid! Weighs around 44 kgs - unladen. Has 5x castor wheels that can take 20kg each, so I'm reasonably confident this little thing can carry a fair bit :smile:

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