Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

If you've never built drawers, the thought is probably intimidating.



I build mine out of 1/2" Baltic birch and 1/4" plywood for the bases. I use Rockler Clamp It Clips (4 for $10) to hold them in place during assembly.

Here's Jay Bates explaining the method:



Easy-peasy.

Tony

Nice, Tony. Building drawers can be intimidating but it's really not that hard to build a nice drawer that is strong and will last.

I used a Harbor Freight Tools Dovetail jig to make mine. It takes a bit of fiddling to get the jig setup but then you can rock:


It's cuts a half blind dovetail so you definitely need a drawer front:


I think they came out pretty nice:


Bruce

Wow those dovetails are great! Beautiful drawers!

I used a Kreg pocket hole jig like the original post to make just about everything on my trailer and a tool drawer for my Jeep. It'a an amazing DIY tool.

I think the drawers were the only thing I didn't use pocket screws on.
Bruce

I just use a simple rabbet joint for drawers & a dado slotted in for the bottoms. It's usually a 1/4" X 1/2" cut for the 1/2" Baltic birch plywood I use & 1/8" bottoms for the small drawers in our teardrop. Just some 1" pins from the pin-tacker & glue will hold it forever once the glue sets. On larger drawers, I would use 1/4" bottoms, but the galley drawers are only about 10" deep (front to back) so there really isn't much weight in them.

When I started as a cabinetmaker, the guy who trained me (RIP Bill Altenhoff) only used D-select white pine for drawer sides. We bought it at a local lumber yard (RIP Grant Road Lumber Company in Tucson) as 1X12 X 3/4" stock, then we planed it down to 1/2" to build the drawers. Nothing like sweet clear pine for a drawer, they were simple, clean & elegant.

Here's a drawer in the galley, without the drawer head in place yet.



If you're using side mounted drawer guides which require 1/2" of clearance per side, remember to leave about 1 1/16" of clearance between the sides of the cabinet & the drawer body (that's really only 1/32" per side). That 1/16" doesn't seem like much, but leaving just a 1" difference for a 1" drawer slide set is a tight fit. Leave the 1/16" of extra "slop" & the drawer will track correctly, not bind & work as it was designed, smoothly & effortlessly!

P.S. I don't own a pocket screw jig, never found a use for it...

Since Shelly and I are in the thinking/planning stage for our galley build, just wanted to say thank you for the ideas! We are really appreciating this thread.

Tom

noseoil wrote:If you're using side mounted drawer guides which require 1/2" of clearance per side, remember to leave about 1 1/16" of clearance between the sides of the cabinet & the drawer body (that's really only 1/32" per side). That 1/16" doesn't seem like much, but leaving just a 1" difference for a 1" drawer slide set is a tight fit. Leave the 1/16" of extra "slop" & the drawer will track correctly, not bind & work as it was designed, smoothly & effortlessly!

Good tip, getting the drawer slides to work smoothly was the hardest part of making drawers for me.
Bruce

Tony needs to look into cnc router's

I used perhaps the easiest method of drawer construction. I purchased RTA, dove-tail, Baltic birch, drawer boxes and glued and assembled them at home.

aggie79 wrote:I used perhaps the easiest method of drawer construction. I purchased RTA, dove-tail, Baltic birch, drawer boxes and glued and assembled them at home.

CHEATER!!!!

Actually, that's an idea I hadn't thought of. Thank you!

Tom

...remember to leave about 1 1/16" of clearance between the sides of the cabinet & the drawer body (that's really only 1/32" per side).

Tim: Great tip!

Tony

I purchased RTA, dove-tail, Baltic birch, drawer boxes...

Aggie: Where the heck do you find those?

Tony

tony.latham wrote:

I purchased RTA, dove-tail, Baltic birch, drawer boxes...

Aggie: Where the heck do you find those?

Tony

Not quite the same company (I think), but:

https://cabinetdoor.store/drawer-boxes/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9u7n3rXF6gIVMBitBh1MOgwpEAQYASABEgJO4_D_BwE

I Googled on Aggie's phrase "RTA, dove-tail, Baltic birch, drawer boxes"

Thanks again, Aggie. We may only need one drawer of that type, for our galley, and the price ain't bad!

Tom

Not quite the same company (I think), but:

Interesting, but I just through in a 10" wide, 22" deep and 10" drawer and it was $48 unassembled. Ouch.

Tony