Having decided on and ordered the drawer slides, I had hoped I would finally be in position to get some gluing done. No such luck. I did finish the supports for the drawer slides which now leaves the drawers and the top as the main items left to works on. The reason I didn’t get any of the glue-up done is that I couldn’t get the material I wanted for the drawer separators and back.
I want to use tempered hardboard for the separators and I’ll need 1/4″ stuff for it. Unfortunately, most hardware stores are closed one Sunday, Lowe’s didn’t have what I wanted and I didn’t feel like driving to Home Depot. I’ll pick the stuff up this week and possibly get some assembly done over the course of the week.
The slide supports ended up being easier to work out than I had originally thought- a pleasant surprise considering things typically work out in the other direction. Since the construction is post and frame, I had to put blocking in so that I’ll have a solid surface to attach the slides to. I ended up using poplar pieces that I finished to 1/2″ thick. The pieces run from the front stretchers to the rear posts. I had a to mill notches in the posts for the blocking so the face of the blocking is flush with the inside face of the posts.
I made the blocking wide enough (2 1/2″) to double as supports for the drawer separators. In addition to the blocking, I cut pieces to fit between the rear posts to support the separators. I notched the rear edge of the blocking to accept the supports. These rear supports are 1″ wide and I finished them to 3/4″ thick. I’ve oriented them so the 1″ dimension is the support dimension for the separator.
The blocking, rear supports and front stretchers all need to be grooved to accept the 1/4″ tempered masonite for the separators. I didn’t actually put the groove in because I want to have the material on hand so that I can make sure it is fitted properly.
Seeing all these pieces, the glue-up is going to be interesting. I’m now certain that I’ll have to start by assembling the sides, then fitting all the stretchers to attach the assembled sides together. Of course, this also means that I’ll have to put the rear panel and separators together as part of the final glue-up. That’ll be quite a bit to coordinate within the setup time for the glue. Once the glue-up is completed and the drawer slides installed, I’ll be able to work out the final dimensions for the drawers and get to work on them.