Expedit hack 2: Drawers phase 2

This post is about making the actual drawers that go into the Ikea Expedit cupboard. In the previous post about this I showed how to make the casing that the drawers go in to.

First, get your wood together. Basically there are 3 sizes of wood required. For 4 drawers we need:
- 4x bottom panel the full size of the drawer.
- 8x front/back panels the full width of the drawer
- 8x side panels having the full drawer length - (minus) 2x the thickness of the front/back panel

The width of the front-, back- and side panels (actually the whole height of the complete drawer) doesn't matter much as long as it's about 2cm under the max. height of the drawer. If you make them any higher, you can't put them in.

Also make the bottom panel's width not too tight in between the rails. If in doubt, it can easily be 1mm less.

Before starting, take some measures. This way you know where screws for mounting the drawer on the rails will be so you don't put any nails in that spot before mounting it.

Measure the distance from the hole closest to the front and from that hole to the next hole(s).

I made a little sketch. The drawerbottom is on the left. The casing on the right. The dots are the places where the drawer will be attached to the rails.

Mark these spots on the drawer bottom panel. In my case 37mm from the front...

... and another 251mm from there towards the back.

Get some small nails. I used whatever I could find. These nails have round heads, that's not very easy to use but I really needed to use them.

Hammer them in at half the thickness of the front-, back- and side panels from the edge. Not all the way through!

Be sure not to hammer any nails near the spot where the panel will be mounted on the rails.



Fix the sides on the bottom panel one by one.

And see, the drawer is starting to take shape. This is the bottom view...

... and this is the top view.

Next, the sides have to be screwed together. Get 4 screws per drawer (16 for my 4 drawers) and get a drill a bit thinner than the inner bit of the screw.

Pre-drill the holes for the screws. Make sure to keep the panels in the correct to-be position. Wood can be a bit crooked sometimes.

When the screws are in, you should have a rock-solid drawer.

Now get the rails and mark the exact holes for the screws. This is one closest to the front...

... and the one close to the back.

Pre-drill the holes for these screws as well. Use a drill-bit suitable for the screws you use now.

These screws should be a lot smaller.

Put all the rails on this way.

And in go the drawers.

The drawers in place, sliding open and shut beautifully.

All that's missing now is a front for the drawers. At least they're functional. The front I'm going to make of 4mm plate. It has to look like the rest of the Expedit so I think I'll use a light pine and give it a good rubb of bees wax. We'll see.