Retrofitting a center guide on drawers? Help fix side-to-side play.

[Roger Marty]

Hi, I'm currently making drawers for a dresser project. I've already got dozens of hours into this project. I'm doing wood runners for the 21" wide drawers. Thus far the couple drawers I've made have a bit more side-to-side play than I'd like. However I did *not* design a center guide (since my past projects have done flush-fit drawers and they turned out nicely without a center guide). :-(

Adding a guide to the frame should be straightforward, however I did not provision space below the drawer bottom to fit something to track the glide :-(

At this point seems like these are my options:

1) Glue on some shim pieces of wood to the sides of the drawer to tighten up the side-to-side play. Or add a shim to the wood drawer runners.

2) Dado a track into the cedar drawer bottoms. Concern here is that the center of the cedar bottoms would be thinner at the point of greatest stress, as well as the cedar not being a smooth surface to track a glide.

3) For the 7 remaining drawers that have yet to be glued up, redo the 1/4" dado that I've already cut into the sides (to hold the bottom). That is, fill in the existing 1/4" dado and re-cut a new dado higher up so I can fit a track underneath the drawer bottom. I've already put a ton of effort into hand-dove-tailing the drawer sides/fronts for the 9 drawers, so I'd prefer not to start completely over. Redo the existing 2 drawers.

4) Cut a notch into the *back* of the drawer (at the top) that tracks a guide at the *top* of the drawer??

Thoughts/advice?

Seems like shimming either the runners or the drawer sides would be easiest, but I can't find any examples of people who've done this.

[andy bessette]

This is the kind of problem that is best solved before putting dozens of hours into building without a plan. But now you could add a rail to the top of the drawers and one of those plastic slides that mounts to the drawer back.

[Lee Schierer]

Can you post photos of the dresser?

[Roger Marty]

Can you post photos of the dresser?

Here's the frame with the runners. I'm at work and don't have a picture of the drawers.

IMG_20170309_194223.jpg

One idea is to indeed have a guide at the top of the drawer and some kind of track (facing upward) that is screwed into the drawer back. Something like this where the track/guide are at the top instead of bottom:

http://www.rockler.com/center-track-and-slide-glides

But actually that wouldn't work unless I just put the track (as a notch in the wood?) like shown here?

QCPQNa44dYv.jpg

[andy bessette]

OP--that is precisely what I suggested--with the track and glide at the top.

[Roger Marty]

OP--that is precisely what I suggested--with the track and glide at the top.

The plastic track seems unnecessary? Just put a notch in the drawer back and use a stable wood (quartersawn oak) for the guide rail? I could even put some UWMW tape on the notch to make it track the glide more smoothly...

This seems like possibly a nice solution without farting around with a plastic part. Makes me wonder why this isn't something you see elsewhere...

[glenn bradley]

I would be more tempted to just shim the sides that guide the drawer to provide a proper fit. If it is only off a tiny bit, some slick-tape may be enough to cure your bad travel.

[Brian Holcombe]

Your structure is not bad, but you may want to consider having an upright similar to the front added to the back. There is a good chance that they will start sagging once they're loaded up.

[Roger Marty]

Your structure is not bad, but you may want to consider having an upright similar to the front added to the back. There is a good chance that they will start sagging once they're loaded up.

Yeah, perhaps. I suppose I could add those vertical supports with pocket screws. I don't know how else to do it...I suppose I could chisel out some kind of lap joint since it is not exposed. I can't fit a handheld router in there.

[andy bessette]

The plastic track seems unnecessary?...

This seems like possibly a nice solution without farting around with a plastic part...

The track is not plastic; it is wood. The plastic glide is $1.50; it just screws onto the back of the drawer. There is no farting around unless you just don't know what you're doing.

[Roger Marty]

The track is not plastic; it is wood. The plastic glide is $1.50; it just screws onto the back of the drawer. There is no farting around unless you just don't know what you're doing.

I know, you've mentioned a couple times that one should know what they're doing before getting hours into a project. :-)

I mixed up the "track" and "glide" terminology...I meant plastic glide. I'm not sure what a plastic glide buys me beyond just notching the wood to ride in the track. In fact, I'm not sure what any of this buys me since a glide at only the rear of the drawer still means there is side-to-side play on the rest of the drawer when opening/closing. It simply prevents bind-up.

In any case, thanks for all the ideas.

[Bill McDermott]

Roger,
That looks like a solid build that is going to give someonea sliding ton of storage space. Cool.
I ran into a similar problem with some wide drawersonce. I corrected it by gluing very longwedge shaped piece to the drawer guides (the side walls seen in yourpicture). I kept them off the bottomrunners so that I could get at them with a block plane. I made them loose in the front and too tightin the back. Then I test fitted thedrawers and took swipes with the plane until the front faces lined up justright and the wiggle was gone. I sandedsmooth and waxed. All is well.
Bring it home.

[andy bessette]

...I'm not sure what any of this buys me...

Come on!

You say you haven't provided enough room at the bottom of the drawers for a center track. This gives you a center track at the top of the drawer. You don't need to cut into the backs of the drawers, only need clearance. The track mounts between the drawer openings, hanging down about 9/16". It keeps the back of the drawer centered so the drawer doesn't jam in the opening; it also prevents the back of the drawer from tipping up when fully open. If your openings are way oversized, then you may also need to shim the drawer sides at the front.

[Larry Edgerton]

I routinely build dressers like you have with wood glides but with a twist. I hide a Accuride 100# slide on its side under the middle of the drawer. Its more so that when it is pushed in from one corner the drawer does not bind, but it also lets me leave the drawers a little loose to make up for our huge humidity swings here. Looks like it would be a possibility here for you. When assembled they are never seen.

Now if you are a purist, well.... I do this for money

[Roger Marty]

I routinely build dressers like you have with wood glides but with a twist. I hide a Accuride 100# slide on its side under the middle of the drawer. Its more so that when it is pushed in from one corner the drawer does not bind, but it also lets me leave the drawers a little loose to make up for our huge humidity swings here. Looks like it would be a possibility here for you. When assembled they are never seen.

Now if you are a purist, well.... I do this for money

Any chance you have a picture of this? How do you mount the slide?