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General Forestry => Alternative methods and solutions => Topic started by: Crusarius on January 24, 2021, 02:27:53 PM

Title: drawer locking router bit for drawer bottoms?
Post by: Crusarius on January 24, 2021, 02:27:53 PM
I am looking at reconfiguring my shop and want to make everything modular. I was trying to figure out how I wanted to build my drawer boxes when I came across this...lock drawer router bit (https://www.rockler.com/freud-99-240-drawer-lock-bit-2-dia-x-33-64-h-x-1-2-sh)

These joints look like they will work awesome on drawer sides. Has anyone ever used them for the bottom?

My shop is catered towards metal fabrication. All of my tools are HEAVY! and I was thinking I could use this bit all around the bottom using either 1/2" or 3/4" material and have a rock solid box that the bottom won't sag.

I could glue nail or screw or a combination of them. I lean towards dry joints screwed in case I need to take them apart to fix or change size.
Title: Re: drawer locking router bit for drawer bottoms?
Post by: btulloh on January 24, 2021, 03:36:31 PM
The drawer bottom just floats in a groove on each side. No need for a locking joint. In fact not a good thing to do. Just run a groove on the bottom of each side, back, and bottom. Offset the groove about 1/4" up from the bottom edge. Cut the bottom a little smaller than the full depth of the grooves so it has just a bit of play. No glue or fasteners needed. 
Title: Re: drawer locking router bit for drawer bottoms?
Post by: Crusarius on January 24, 2021, 05:01:26 PM
yea, but if I am doing a 1/2" or 3/4" drawer bottom I am not a fan of the dado. most of my drawer boxes have the bottom just screwed to the sides through the bottom.

Part of the reason for the lock dado would be to maximize space inside the drawer.

I definitely understand the floating bottom though. and you bring up a very valid point and sparked some deeper thinking. Crap! :)
Title: Re: drawer locking router bit for drawer bottoms?
Post by: btulloh on January 24, 2021, 05:23:32 PM
Are you making really big deep drawers that'll hold heavy stuff?  There are basically two or three drawer recipes that have evolved over a few hundred years. One of these calls for a raised panel bottom. Raised part faces down. Fits in a 1/4" groove. Bottom plane of the panel is just slightly higher than the bottom of the sides. 

Nice thing about making your own drawers though is you can do it however it suits you.  

Always nice adding more storage space. Never enough of that. 
Title: Re: drawer locking router bit for drawer bottoms?
Post by: Crusarius on January 24, 2021, 05:45:39 PM
primary thing is toolbox drawers. so roughly 40-48" wide 20-24 deep, and holding lots of tools. Plus I am thinking about making a drawer for my bolts to go in. Right now I have bags of hardware all over the shop and little drawer bins all over the place. kinda be nice to condense them all into one location. Probably free up a ton of space to.

I will also need a drawer for all of my mill tooling and lathe tooling.

Like I said HEAVY!!! :)
Title: Re: drawer locking router bit for drawer bottoms?
Post by: btulloh on January 24, 2021, 06:00:04 PM
Steel drawers!  Ball bearings! Big load!

Sounds heavy. Might need the jaws of life to open one.  :D

Title: Re: drawer locking router bit for drawer bottoms?
Post by: Crusarius on January 24, 2021, 06:09:21 PM
I have some I made up already. they actually work surprisingly well. The hardest part is getting the darn ball bearing slides aligned perfect so they don't want to bind or walk back and forth when moving.

I was being lazy on some of them and they are just 3/4" pine screwed together then the bottom screwed up into the sides. It works but I am looking for something a little more robust. I am doing my best keeping less than 100 pounds in the drawers. but once they are built right that may be a challenge :)
Title: Re: drawer locking router bit for drawer bottoms?
Post by: Crusarius on January 24, 2021, 06:10:16 PM
maybe I need to build the 48" wide press break before I tackle the tool box drawers? Steel drawers would be great. but heavy and pricey.
Title: Re: drawer locking router bit for drawer bottoms?
Post by: samandothers on January 24, 2021, 06:22:55 PM
Hopefully the link below works out ok.  I was watching it today and seems it may apply here.  The guy, Stumpy Nubs, doing the video call this a half, half, half drawer or something to that affect.  It is a take off of a 1/4", 1/4", 1/4" method.  It does use dados and rabbits but depending on thickness of plywood used the dados and rabbits would be thicker and seems they may have more holding ability.  Thicker plywood would have less sag too.  

Uses basically one set up on the table saw.  I assume you could do same with router table.

The fast and easy half-half-half drawer construction method - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQXHzvJNsoA)

Anyway thought it might give food for thought. 
Title: Re: drawer locking router bit for drawer bottoms?
Post by: Crusarius on January 24, 2021, 08:58:37 PM
pretty good video. Now I just need a dado set and a better table saw to run it :)

Essentially it looks like roughly the same joint as the router bit. I could probably make it work with my portable table saw but take a little more work not having dado set.

Thanks for the video.
Title: Re: drawer locking router bit for drawer bottoms?
Post by: btulloh on January 26, 2021, 09:21:29 PM
Well watching that led my into the yt rabbit hole for a few minutes. This is an interesting idea for what you're trying to accomplish and you can find these st auction pretty cheap sometimes. Made to hold a lot of weight and no fab needed. 

https://youtu.be/13HFbFM8lnU (https://youtu.be/13HFbFM8lnU)

https://youtu.be/MlsjhGChgFQ (https://youtu.be/MlsjhGChgFQ)

Title: Re: drawer locking router bit for drawer bottoms?
Post by: Crusarius on January 27, 2021, 06:17:39 AM
I have seen lots of ppl use those. Unfortunately they just are not easy to organize. I end up with to much crap on top of to much other crap and then instead of having it on the flat spaces I end up having it shoved in the drawers and still can;t find anything.
Title: Re: drawer locking router bit for drawer botto" ms?
Post by: farmfromkansas on January 27, 2021, 09:05:40 AM
If you made your drawer boxes from plywood, you can just staple the bottom on, no groove,  there is a cabinet company in Wichita doing just that.  Scrap ply for drawers.  Then if you use a drawer guide, just screw it on the bottom, and all the weight is supported by the guides.  You could use 3/8 or 1/2" bottoms, much stronger than 1/4". If you use rollers under the drawers no need for fancy joints. Dovetails were used when the drawer just drug on the cabinet.