Storage drawers. Slides or no slides? (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Hey there, slightly off topic from my main question, but have you ran into any issues with your carpet adhesive coming off having the carpet on top covering the hinges for your wings? I like the clean look of yours where the hinges don’t show, but part of me thinks it’s a better idea to have the hinges further securing the carpet. What do you think?

Nope, no issues so far. I didn't apply adhesive directly to the hinges as I thought doing so might impede their function. I used 3M spray adhesive and Polymat speaker carpet from Amazon.
 
To each their own but I find drawer slides to be difficult in a few areas:

1. Cost
2. They reduce the drawer width by minimum 1/4" on each side.
3. The drawers are more difficult to remove

I used HDPE adhesive tape on the bottoms of the drawer as well as the bottom of the box. Even with around 100 lbs of gear in a drawer I can still open it one handed. I remove the drawers and platform about 4-5 times a year to load larger items into the back of the LC and this allows me to do so in minutes. I wipe off the HDPE tape about once or twice a year if dust or other stuff gets on it.

A large role of tape was about $20 and I did both drawers with it. The original drawers I built this way are going on 6 years old and work great. I have now made 5 sets of drawers this way with small improvements for each set.
 
Nope, no issues so far. I didn't apply adhesive directly to the hinges as I thought doing so might impede their function. I used 3M spray adhesive and Polymat speaker carpet from Amazon.
Okay awesome, glad to hear its held up well. I will probably do the same thing, definitely looks much cleaner. Thank you.
 
To each their own but I find drawer slides to be difficult in a few areas:

1. Cost
2. They reduce the drawer width by minimum 1/4" on each side.
3. The drawers are more difficult to remove

I used HDPE adhesive tape on the bottoms of the drawer as well as the bottom of the box. Even with around 100 lbs of gear in a drawer I can still open it one handed. I remove the drawers and platform about 4-5 times a year to load larger items into the back of the LC and this allows me to do so in minutes.
Yeah honestly when I was starting to draft the dimensions I was turned off by the loss of drawer volume with ball bearings. The ones I were looking at would've reduced the total drawer width by an inch at least. I also like the idea of being able to easily remove the drawers, it just seems like theres much less to go wrong this way. I ended up deciding on UHMW, just picked up a .125"x24"x48" sheet yesterday from a local plastic supplier.
 
I'll add my .02 to this. I've made a number of cabinets for my garage and I've used HDPE slides for most of my cabinets. HDPE is easy to work with and with a light coat of paste wax, the drawers are buttery smooth. With that being said, I would not use HDPE slides for the drawers in the back of my vehicle. If I'm parked on an incline and I need to access the drawers in the back, I want to make sure that I can lock the drawers in an open position. I don't want the drawers to slide back on me as I'm trying to pull something out. Yes, you lose a bit of room using drawer slides but I'd rather lose some room than lose some fingers.

I'd also recommend using baltic birch plywood over other types of plywood. Baltic birch has a thicker face veneer and is free of voids unlike the plywood you can buy at most box stores. It is a bit more expensive, and it only comes in 5' x 5' sheets, but it will last a lot longer than other types of plywood.
 
The HDPE or UHMW tape (I'd have to look it up) I've used on mine is reasonably smooth without being as easy to slide as a UHMW slide. A drawer with 60 lbs in it can be pulled out with one arm. At 3/5 extension, because it is it not on a slide, if you stop providing lift on the drawer it binds on the tailgate and lid of the box and can't come out. I haven't tested at what degree the vehicle has to be at where the drawer would want to spring open.

I have opened my drawers on all kinds of angles and they don't come flying out, but understand the concern as it was initially one of mine. If I had small kids trying to access the drawer I might go back to an earlier revision.

My first set of drawers I used 1" nylon webbing as a limiting strap from the box to the rear of the drawer. I later went to a piece of rubber tarp strapping, and then removed it altogether as it was never necessary. I've had a variation of this drawer design using anti-friction tape for 7 years and open them 10-20 times a week, so at this point it seems pretty well tested.
 
Last edited:
Late to the game, but firmly in the "no slide" camp over here. I elevate the bottom of my drawer up by about 1/8" so that the weight is riding on the sides of the box, sand the bottom of the sides real well, coat with BLO and maybe some beeswax, and you're good. Have mine filled up with stuff and it's easy to slide in and out. Most of the friction comes from overfilling the drawer, then having to mash stuff down while you push it in :lol:

1604936710495.png


1604936784626.png
 
Nice, that’s a good idea with the paste. It helps a lot with the friction?

The plastic strips already provide a super slick surface for the drawer to slide on. The paste just made it even smoother. I have roughly 80lbs of s*** in that drawer. Easy to open with one hand to 3/4 open. If I need something from the back, which is rare, I then grab with 2 hands and bring it “all” the way ;)

C000DB44-F264-447D-9D51-8E5C261873AA.jpeg

3F72C6C5-E1FB-443F-8242-3E57E528E886.jpeg

2C207465-3F6A-4BAA-8649-EFB3A442A553.jpeg
 
Nice, that’s a good idea on the paste. Did you do polyurethane on your drawers?
The plastic strips already provide a super slick surface for the drawer to slide on. The paste just made it even smoother. I have roughly 80lbs of s*** in that drawer. Easy to open with one hand to 3/4 open. If I need something from the back, which is rare, I then grab with 2 hands and bring it “all” the way ;)

View attachment 2507846
View attachment 2507847
View attachment 2507848
Okay sweet. Yeah I love my UHMW slides, they already slide great but I’m now very curious about the paste. It should stay on and work fine over polyurethane right?
 
Nice, that’s a good idea on the paste. Did you do polyurethane on your drawers?

Okay sweet. Yeah I love my UHMW slides, they already slide great but I’m now very curious about the paste. It should stay on and work fine over polyurethane right?

I did not poly the drawer itself. So I cannot speak to the wax vs poly questions. I only used paste on the back 6“ of the bottom, side, and top part of the drawer. HTH
 
I did not poly the drawer itself. So I cannot speak to the wax vs poly questions. I only used paste on the back 6“ of the bottom, side, and top part of the drawer. HTH
Oh okay, sounds good. From what I’ve gathered it sounds like it should be fine over the poly. Thanks for the suggestion, looking forward to trying it out.
 
The HDPE or UHMW tape (I'd have to look it up) I've used on mine is reasonably smooth without being as easy to slide as a UHMW slide. A drawer with 60 lbs in it can be pulled out with one arm. At 3/5 extension, because it is it not on a slide, if you stop providing lift on the drawer it binds on the tailgate and lid of the box and can't come out. I haven't tested at what degree the vehicle has to be at where the drawer would want to spring open.

I have opened my drawers on all kinds of angles and they don't come flying out, but understand the concern as it was initially one of mine. If I had small kids trying to access the drawer I might go back to an earlier revision.

My first set of drawers I used 1" nylon webbing as a limiting strap from the box to the rear of the drawer. I later went to a piece of rubber tarp strapping, and then removed it altogether as it was never necessary. I've had a variation of this drawer design using anti-friction tape for 7 years and open them 10-20 times a week, so at this point it seems pretty well tested.

UHMW in the solid sheets is fabulous for for drawer slides. You can inlay it in the wood and leave just 1/32" -1/64" proud. Only need to do one side but if you really want it to slide UHMW to UHMW and you might complain they slide too well. The more weight you add to the drawer the better it works. That stuff if magic for furniture makers. You can make things slide with almost no tolerances. Cuts and shapes with normal wood tools. Self healing. You screw it in so it will never come off like the tape can sometimes.

 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom