Scott, I recently built a workbench and made the top from a piece of scrap kitchen countertop with Formica on it. I will just address building the drawer, because the way I built it was very simple.
The face plate on the workbench below the front edge of the countertop was a 1 x 6, which is 5 ½ high. I built the drawer by cutting the opening the face plate before I assembled the workbench. The opening for the drawer was 3 ¾ high and 18 ¼ wide. Here is the simple method I used for building the drawer: I bought an 8 foot piece of 1 x 4 pine relatively clear of knots. The first thing I did with this board was run it along my fence of my table saw and cut a groove in the bottom about 3/8 deep, 3/8 from the edge of the board. Since the saw blade isnt quite a ¼ wide, even with the carbide tip, I moved the fence over slightly and ran the board across the table saw one more time and ended up with a grove 3/8 deep and ¼ wide. Then, I cut the board into two 18 long pieces for the sides of the drawer, and two 16 ½ pieces for the front and back of the drawer (when assembled, I have an 18 by 18 outside dimension drawer). I bought a ¼ thick piece of plywood and cut it to fit into the slot all the way all four sides of the drawer. So, with an 18 by 18 drawer, the inside dimension will be 16 ½ by 16 ½, and if you could measure inside the slot you cut all the way around, that dimension is 16 ½ plus 3/8 plus 3/8 in each direction, which 17 ¼ . So I cut the ¼ plywood 17 1/8 square so it will fit inside the grooves with a 1/16 tolerance all the way around. I drilled and screwed the front rail to the side rails, making sure that slot is lined up all the way around these three pieces. Then I set with the face down and slid the ¼ plywood into the slots. Then I added the end piece and drilled and screwed it on. After that, I built a face plate, which is about ½ larger than the front of the drawer, or 4 ½ by 19, and screwed it to the front of the drawer from the inside. That is basically how I built the drawer very simple, and you dont have to worry about tongue and grooves or anything like that. I wont go into the mounting except to say I bought metal and roller guides that attach to the sides of the drawer and allow you to pull the drawer completely out without it falling out. These are available at Lowes, Home Depot, etc. and mounting instructions are included. Good luck, Tom _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Scott Howell Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 8:23 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [SPAM][BlindHandyMan] making a drawer Hey folks, I am finally relocating in the house to gain additional space. I've got a plan for a desk/work surface, but I was trying to figure out how I could make a good solid drawer. I guess I could figure some of this out like making a groove in the sides to fit the bottom into and if I did this, what router bit would be best suited for making that type of groove and I imagine I'd have to find one that is the same thickness as the board I want to fit all the sides on too. Now as far as getting all the sides connected. I guess I could just run some screws into the ends and that would work, but is there a better way or a way that might not necessarily be better, but might make for a stronger drawer? I did a little reading on dovetail joints, but I suspect this is way out of my skill level at this point. I believe those joints are like fingers that interlock at a 90 degree angle and are I imagine either glued or just pressure fitted. In any event, any thoughts appreciated. If anyone is interested, I'm going to take two counter tops and use a piece of melamine (however that's spelled) and use that to make the corner piece of the l which will keep me from having to rip the edge of the counter top partially off or trying to rip a 90 degree angle on both halves. That is how it looks like they did the counter tops in our kitchen. They cut the two tops at a 90 degree angle and slapped them together. Nothing wrong with this but gee I got this nice scrap lying here, might as well try to put it to good use. Well actually this does bring up one other question. If I wanted to cut the top at a 90 degree angle, how would I use the miter cross cut tool on my table saw? I know that might seem like a silly question, but I haven't used the gage yet so not sure exactly how I would use that while pushing the wood through. tnx Scott Howell [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:s.howell%40verizon.net> net [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
