Lock-Miter Plywood Drawer Experiment

[Tim Lynch]

I have to make nine drawers to complete three closets in my house. I built each closet organizer with an identical space so that I could make the drawers production style. I've decided to try making the drawers with a lock-miter shaper bit in order to 1) get a reasonably strong joint 2) have a mitered corner that won't show plywood end grain 3) speed things up.

Here's how I went about it:

First cut panels to the width of the drawer fronts and width of the sides.

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Next mark the drawer heights, accounting for saw kerf.

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Next I drilled 4" holes centered over the line between 2 drawer faces -- these will be half moon hand holes once the faces are ripped.

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Now run the drawer faces horizontally through the lock miter bit. This orientation will produce a lock miter with more mechanical strength in the drawer pulling direction.

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Now run the drawer sides vertically.

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[Tim Lynch]

There's notable tearout on the drawer sides. These will not be museum quality drawers, I can tell. But they really weren't meant to be, so onward we go.

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The lock miters are going together pretty well, and my orientation looks right.

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Next rip the drawer faces and sides and plough a groove for the drawer bottom. I didn't bother to set up the dado blade, just took two passes.

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On to glue up

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After sanding and a couple coats of water based poly, drawers are installed in the kids' closet.

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Observations: It was pretty fast, and the drawers are consistent sizes. The lock miters pull together at right angles very well, so glue up is easy and the drawers squared up nicely. The tearout is still noticeable on the inside. They're very sturdy.

If I ever make a bank of shop drawers, I think I'll use this method.

By the way, the drawers are 24" wide and 15" deep and consumed one 4X8 sheet of 3/4" ply, plus a couple smaller scraps that I had left over from the closet organizer, and a little over a half sheet of 1/4" ply.

Thanks for looking and I welcome comments.

Tim

[Phil Thien]

Nice work Tim, thanks for the write-up.

The thing I really like about the method is the production speed. You don't seem to compromise much in strength and you pickup quite a bit in speed.

It would be nice if there were some way to reduce the tearout on future attempts to employ this technique.

I suppose someone could use a small (I have down to 1/8") straight bit to score the face veneer that is chipping out. Same thing could be done on a table saw, too. I don't think it would add much time, just two more passes before going to the shaper.

This, BTW, is the best reason I've seen to date to buy a lock miter bit. I don't know how well my DeWalt DW618 would swing one, though. That is a lot of material to remove in a single pass for a 2-1/4 HP router.

[Tim Lynch]

Thanks for the comments Phil. I thought (after I had perpetrated all the tearout) that I should have just scored a line w/ a long straightedge and razor knife and that probably would have done it. Considering that it's just a couple panels, it wouldn't have taken long at all. Maybe I can run a test piece and report back.

[Ed Peters]

drawer parts is..........drum roll please..........a "Drawer Lock Router Bit". I find it easier to setup and the cross grain tear out, typical on all veneered products, is concealed within the joint. You can see a profile of the joint this tool makes at www.crookedlittletree.com under standard joinery. As you will notice, the faces of the joint supply the mechanical lock against the constant pull on the front. Additionally, the seam is moved to the side for those occassions when the drawers will not get a drawer front applied. The machining process is still the same but I find the results to be generally more attractive. Assembly is a breeze as well. Just apply some left to right clamp pressure and the parts pull in square. At that point I shoot a couple of brads in each corner to hold until the glue cures and set them aside. Obviously, it goes without saying that all the interior surfaces are finish sanded prior to assembly.

Ed

[Tim Lynch]

Hi Ed, thanks for the comments too.

Yeah, I'm familiar with the drawer lock bit and I agree that it is the bit of choice, but I have only the miter lock bit, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I think the lock miter has a pretty comparable mechanical lock to resist the pull of the front, but the setup time is definitely an issue. They're finicky.

And reducing the tearout would be a big selling point for the drawer lock, although it seems like the drawer lock bit could still produce tearout that would be visible on the inside of the drawer side. Maybe the geometry of the bit helps.

I went out and tried scoring the plywood with the razor knife and it did eliminate the tearout.

Anyway, I'm wondering if you similarly mill large panels and then rip them down to size?

[Ed Jolin]

Tim -
Looks great; I have 3 closets awaiting similar shelving.

What did you do for drawer slides?

-ed

[Tim Lynch]

They're Dynaslides (Accuride knockoffs) from Outwater. Very smooth and the price is right.

http://www.outwatercatalogs.com/2007...catalog=070148

[Phil Thien]

drawer parts is..........drum roll please..........a "Drawer Lock Router Bit".

But would the drawer lock bit provide the same speed of production? I realize the lock miter takes a bit of setup. But once fine-tuned, all he had to do is make two passes and then divide the panel into all his pieces. Can the drawer lock router bit be used it the same fashion?

[Phil Thien]

Thanks for the comments Phil. I thought (after I had perpetrated all the tearout) that I should have just scored a line w/ a long straightedge and razor knife and that probably would have done it. Considering that it's just a couple panels, it wouldn't have taken long at all. Maybe I can run a test piece and report back.

I suppose you could use a marking gauge of some sort to do the scoring. I'm afraid of using a knife w/ a straight edge. I've jumped straight edges a couple of times when cutting veneers and done quite a bit of damage to my index finger. Plus marking gauges have been more accurate for me. I wonder if I could get one to score deeply enough.

[frank shic]

tim, nice job on those drawers with the drawer lock bit. i could never figure out how to get that or the 45 degree lock miter bits to work right! turning the powerfeeder sideways is a great idea for those blessed with a shaper (not me... yet!). thanks for sharing.

[Geoff Harris]

I had significant tearout using a lock miter bit on baltic birch a while back. I tried scoring the cut and that helped somewhat. What finally eliminated the tearout was putting a zero clearance fence around the bit. I just plunged a piece of 1/4 inch ply through the bit.

[Jim Becker]

Very nice pictorial...and the drawers look great. I may do this same type of thing for our new master closet. Looks to be fast and strong.

[Steve Clardy]

Very nice pictorial...and the drawers look great. I may do this same type of thing for our new master closet. Looks to be fast and strong.

Ditto........

[Tim Lynch]

Thanks again for all the comments.

Tim