Replies

1. 
   SgianDubh | May 02, 2004 10:04am | #1

   Yes, you can do that reasonably easily Dennis. It just takes some care setting out the position of the housings (dado's) in the back face of the drawer front-- they have to be cut to the requisite length to suit the opening because the router side fence works off the drawer front ends. You also need a sharp cutter to reduce the chance of tearing off any face veneer.

   You'll need to make these parts a bit wide, i.e., the vertical width, so that you can cut off any spelch caused by the cutter as it breaks out of the edge. In fact, as you're using ply you can keep all your drawer fronts as one wide piece, cut the dovetail housing and rip the ply to width as needed for each opening later.

   Do the housings in the drawer fronts first and then cut the dovetail on the front end of the sides later to fit. Again here you can do wide parts and cut them to the requisite width later if you use plywood.

   The one concern I'd have is your proposed mix of solid wood sides and plywood fronts. The sides will expand and contract at a different rate to the fronts and the joint could telegraph through the edge banding you plan to use to hide it. This will matter more as the drawer fronts get taller.

   In your case, I'd recommend using all solid wood throughout, or plywood throughout to eliminate this potential problem. If I used solid wood I'd stop the housing short of the top edge of the drawer front and slip the sides in from the bottom edge to hide the joint-- if I wanted to hide it.

   Here's a link to an article that illustrates some of the stages in the construction using sliding dovetail joinery for drawer boxes. Go to P. 6 when you get there. Slainte. http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/jones/jones1.shtml

   RJFurniture

1. 
   DennisS | May 02, 2004 06:07pm | #4

   Thanks for the reassurance!

   To insure that the housings are located consistently from the ends of the full overlay drawer fronts I've built a jig for the routher with positive stops to control the location of the workpiece. But your suggetion of cutting them from a single piece then cutting the drawer fronts to proper height sounds even better. Great idea.

   I had anticipated using solid (1/2") stock for the sides since I wasn't sure about the efficacy of cutting dovetails in the edges or ends of a piece of plywood. I'm building a little cabinet for the shop with shallow drawers to hold my table saw blades as a practice piece. I'll rip some plywood for the sides and try them in my setup to see how well they work.

   One thing I'm discovering in all this is that jigs and/or fixtures need to be designed so's to make all the cuts in a given work piece with one setup if possible. For the dovetail ends of the drawer slides I was reversing the piece in the jig to make the second pass. The scrap I was using wasn't milled as precisely as the actual work pieces thus the results were inconsistent. After positioning a second fence on the opposite side and cutting both sides of the dovetail using a single reference side I got much better consistency.

   I also think I need to invest in a different bit. The one I'm using has but a single cutter wing and seems not to produce a very smooth cut.

   Thanks for the reply.

   ...........

   From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.

   Dennis

2. 
   BG | May 02, 2004 02:11pm | #2

   Dennis,

   I've done sliding dovetail joinery for draws a couple of times...solid wood and plywood.  What always gets me scratching my head is how far over from the edge do I need to be to ensure the housing will hold the pin...  If I making flush fitting draws....the more I slide over the more storage I loose...maybe Sagin or others can suggest a solution/distance...or do you plans specify that?  
1. 
   SgianDubh | May 02, 2004 03:38pm | #3

   BG, sliding dovetails into drawer fronts are better if the front overhangs the side by about 12- 18 mm giving strength to the structure. For a drawer mounted on side mounted proprietary slides this is easily allowed for and the drawer can be the inset type rather than overlay if the design calls for this.

   For a drawer running on traditional wooden runners and kickers the most obvious solution is for the drawer front to overlay the cabinet front.

   There are other configurastions that allow the side to be directly dovetail housed into the front, but the two above are the most obvious and logical. Slainte.

   RJFurniture

1. 
   BG | May 02, 2004 08:50pm | #7

   Sgian,

   Thanks, that is good to know.  I'll write it down in the margin of Joyce's book in the joinery section so I won't forget it....lol.

   I hardley ever use the propietary slides, unless the draw is going to handle a lot of weight eg. lateral file.....or when once again the cabinet is not square (sigh) then I use one on the base of the draw.... 

1. 
   SgianDubh | May 04, 2004 09:51am | #8

   If you have two routers BG, each with a side fence, you can set one up with a straight cutter to remove the bulk of the waste followed by the second router fitted with your dovetail bit to make the final cut. If you have only one router, just switch bits after clearing out the bulk of wood with the straight bit.

   Routing full depth trenches or grooves with a dovetail bit in one go-- which is the only way it can be done-- can be hard work if your router is small, say 1200 watts or less. Having suggested the technique or tip, I seldom employ it myself. I just put the dovetail cutter in a big router and buy new cutters as I need them. It's quicker, and for me time is money. Slainte.RJFurniture

2. 
   tsproul | May 02, 2004 06:19pm | #5

   BG,

   Try a dovetailed rabbet - essentially "half" of a sliding dovetail. You'll need to pin the joint with some dowels though.

   Or, you can cut the sliding dovetail very close to the endgrain of the drawer front....but be very careful when assembling and pin with some dowels from the side of the drawer after assembly.Tim

1. 
   BG | May 02, 2004 08:36pm | #6

   TSproul,

   I did try the technique you suggest last year with six draws I made for storage under my lathe....I used 1/8" dowels..came out okay.  I bought some 'ledger board' (pine) at HD and culled some nice clear draw fronts and 1/2" thick sides...a hardwood would have been a bit better...