Building an end table - how to have 2-way drawer slides?

[ependydad]

My daughter would like a little organized storage to the bunks where her and her brother's beds are.

They're up in the toy hauler garage on the upper HappiJac bed, but we turned the beds long ways with the camper and extended the platform for them. In doing that, we put real twin-sized mattresses up there. In doing so, there is a 15 1/2" space between the beds.



She has designed an end table on paper that has an open space below (up to the top/level with the mattresses). And then a drawer. And then a table top (with raised lip). Approximate dimensions would be 15 1/2" wide by 15-20" deep by 18" tall.

She wants to share the drawer with her brother. She envisions here side to be highly organized with compartments for her camera body, lenses, charger, and misc. paraphernalia. Her brother's side will be a heaped dump of a mess- likely mostly LEGOs and hopefully not bits of food he sneaks up there.

The original idea was to have the drawer come out the front on full-extension drawer slides. She'd get the back 1/2 of the drawer, he'd get the front.

I wondered instead about using a 2-way drawer slide so that she can pull it out "sideways" towards her and he sideways towards him. The drawer slides would only need to be 1/2 to 3/4 extension.

A couple of issues:
1) I'm having a hard time finding a drawer slide that would be in the < 15" length.

2) I'm having a hard time finding affordable 2-way drawer slides. I see some for $60 from Accuride but that'll likely be more expensive than the rest of the end table.

And lastly, the challenge of all of this. My tools available are a power drill, jig/sabre saw (w/ straight line guides + clamps), screws, and glue. It won't be pretty and will mostly be made out of plywood and 1x1 pieces (I think!).

Any thoughts/opinions/suggestions?

[SRN]

Have you considered just using collapsible storage ottomans like this unit with side pockets? (https://www.campingworld.com/tufted-...-ottoman-brown). We've used them in the TT as footstools and additional storage. They're lightweight and fold flat when stored. Sure would be easier to move around than an actual end table.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by SRN

Have you considered just using collapsible storage ottomans like this unit with side pockets? (https://www.campingworld.com/tufted-...-ottoman-brown). We've used them in the TT as footstools and additional storage. They're lightweight and fold flat when stored. Sure would be easier to move around than an actual end table.

We considered a lot of things. Not that, but I like this end table idea - especially to allow her to see an idea start as a thought, transform to paper, and become a reality.

There isn’t any moving it around. We’ll put it into place and leave it there.

[hshaynes]

....dad, try McMaster-Carr. Google the name and .com. They have expensive and stuff that is not so expensive. Typically ship UPS second day. Used them extensively in my other life.

[AZ Pete]

you really do not need commercial slides. Just wax the drawer rail bottoms and make drawer stops that limit how far it can be pulled out each way.

You can even buy a drawer box to design your cabinet around.

[IsleDog]

Originally Posted by ependydad

We considered a lot of things. Not that, but I like this end table idea - especially to allow her to see an idea start as a thought, transform to paper, and become a reality.

There isn’t any moving it around. We’ll put it into place and leave it there.

can you wait until spring and travel to the midwest? I would be more than happy let both of you use my shop to build that.

would you mind posting the drawing so that all of us can see her vision? I like to design and build furniture and toys in my spare time. could you have two full length drawers, his on top that pulls out to the right and hers below that pulls out to the left?

[Bama Rambler]

A picture of the drawing would help.

If the drawer was going to be oriented along the long dimension, it would be easy to use two 10" full extension drawer glides and just make two drawers back to back.

Since it sounds like they're going along the 15½" dimension you could use 8" on two drawers and offset them high and low on the drawers and they would close all the way and open past full extension.

[dbledan]

Only way I can figure it would be to only let the drawer go out 7" either side. Instead of side slides you can by cheap assistance rollers or as someone above said just wax it and let it slide on the wood.

Just an idea. Could leave it open in the front with a shelf or put a drawer facing out that is also divided in half. This allows full use of the space. I think sideways at the bottom or two drawers would not give enough space. You can put a divider in the drawer that is lower than the stopper.

[veraken]

Here's a good source for cabinet parts.

https://www.cabinetparts.com/

[IsleDog]

Just expanding on dbledan's very easy and simple design. this can be built entirely from 1/4" or 3/8" plywood and 1x2's. make the slides out of 1x2's, wax if necessary (wont be, your heirloom furniture is wood on wood). the slide doubles as the supports for the drawers. everything can be built with the tools you have listed.

[ependydad]

You guys are awesome. I hadn't really thought about going without drawer slides. My wife and daughter were starting to propose an IKEA part. You can see it in this picture (the white plastic guides for the drawers). But just letting the drawer slide in the box is much simpler.

IsleDog, the offer to use your workshop is amazing. I'm sure her patience won't let us wait that long. I already have to break the news to her that it's going to have to wait 2-3 weeks until my "Home Improvement" budget resets on March 1 (we've done a bunch of honey do/home projects already this month) and then after a rally.

The detail drawings for an idea are perfect. I think we'll likely go with a small cut out instead of a drawer pull. But it's quite close to what she had in mind. We'll probably put plywood on the backside so that they don't lose pieces down behind the beds plus it should firm up that area a bit.

I'm not sure we want to go with double-stacked drawers as it might be getting too high to make the top of it useable. But I'll talk to them to see what they want. That might be a simpler solution than them fighting space in a small drawer.

dbledan, the stopper drawing finally made it click for me for how that works! Thank you, I was drawing a blank.

[benfox49]

I'm not sure what the max height for your drawer has to be, but my idea would be to make a drawer ,say 5" deep and use a 2 tiered approach.
That is build one drawer 5" deep then you build another drawer about 1/2 the depth of the first.

The top drawer will have it's own set of full extension drawer guides as will the first. The top tier drawer will pull out from one side and the bottom from the other. The top drawer will fit inside the first so it would be a couple inches narrower than the first. [2 sides of 1/2" material and 1/2" one each side for the full extension guides]Both drawers will have a front which will each drawer in place while the other pulls out.

The drawer front on one side would be mounted than the second one on the other side.

I hope that's clear. you can look at drawer guides and see what a 2 tiered drawer setup looks like at woodworkershardware.com

I am a cabinet maker and have done few of this type, wood workers hardware used to have reasonably priced 2 way slides , but don't seem to carry them now.

Ben

[gastan]

You need an Accuride 2002
It's a two-way slide with a 50 lb. rating and a 3/4 extension.
Comes in 12" to 28" lengths - - yours would be the 2002-14.
Specs call for drawers "up to 12" wide". Don't worry about it. On a 15" wide cabinet, your drawer will end up being around 12-3/4". Not enough over to make any difference. I've used these slides on drawers 1-1/2x what the spec says.

Here's a link to the product website. Be sure to look at the applications and downloads links.

https://www.accuride.com/c2002-easy-...y-travel-slide

Here's one link to an online store - $28.47 a pair:

https://ahturf.com/store/index.php?r...SABEgKXivD_BwE

[rockfordroo]

Here's an idea:

I built a work table out of an old piece of countertop and some 2x4's for legs. I had an old CHEAP kitchen cabinet that had small drawers in it. The drawers had a slot in the sides that was 3/4" wide and slid on a piece of wood mounted inside the cabinet.

For my work table, I used a 2x4 and a 1x2 (actual 3/4" x 1-1/2") to make something for the slot to slide on. See attached.

If you have a router, you could route a similar slot and make something for the slot to slide on. Put one on each side.

[pmsherman]

I'd take a different approach. Make the cabinet the full width of the space between the beds with a single drawer that opens towards the feet of the beds. The drawer will need a divider running front to back to give half of the drawer to each user. If the divider is a bit shallower than the drawer height, it can be used as the support for two hinged "covers", one for each side. The covers will provide some privacy and will also help keep each user's items separate. Covers will require that the drawer be extended fully to open them which implies using full extension drawer slides. If the covers are split in half, requiring more hinges, the drawer could be pulled out part way and only half of the cover opened.



Phil

[RiderBloke]

Originally Posted by ependydad

We considered a lot of things. Not that, but I like this end table idea - especially to allow her to see an idea start as a thought, transform to paper, and become a reality.



There isn’t any moving it around. We’ll put it into place and leave it there.

Ikea has this unit that may hold some ideas for you. The drawers slide out both sides.
https://m2.ikea.com/us/en/p/foerhoej...irch-80035920/
It would need some modification for your purposes but we bought one and it is quite good.

[dbledan]

Your daughter sounds like my wife.

Give her some foam and a kitchen knife to organize her side. She can leave part of it open for incidentals or just cut a pocket out of the foam. My wife did this for her camera bag. Protects the lenses and you always know where to find things.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by RiderBloke

Ikea has this unit that may hold some ideas for you. The drawers slide out both sides.
https://m2.ikea.com/us/en/p/foerhoej...irch-80035920/
It would need some modification for your purposes but we bought one and it is quite good.

That’s a bit big for what we need, but I see they went for wood on wood drawers and notched the front for a finger hole. That tells me the ideas we are kicking around are sound!

[Mr Towed]

Originally Posted by pmsherman

I'd take a different approach. Make the cabinet the full width of the space between the beds with a single drawer that opens towards the feet of the beds. The drawer will need a divider running front to back to give half of the drawer to each user. If the divider is a bit shallower than the drawer height, it can be used as the support for two hinged "covers", one for each side. The covers will provide some privacy and will also help keep each user's items separate. Covers will require that the drawer be extended fully to open them which implies using full extension drawer slides. If the covers are split in half, requiring more hinges, the drawer could be pulled out part way and only half of the cover opened.

Phil

I agree strongly with this idea. That or two drawers double stacked. But the double action drawer makes no sense to me because it has to have clearance on 2 sides instead of just one. You can get pre-formed metal drawer sides that incorporate the slides into them from Blum and others, all you need to supply is a drawer bottom panel, front and back, which is a very easy way to make a custom sized drawer for someone with minimal tools.

[pmsherman]

Before you start building the cabinet, I'd have your daughter construct a cardboard drawer that's the size of the one that will end up in the cabinet. She can use this to determine if it will be large enough to hold all of the things she wants to keep in it. If it's too small, she can revise her design to make a bigger drawer.


This just tickled an old memory from many many years ago. "Develop an idea, experiment, revise the idea."



Phil