Expert: Jamie Yocono - 12/28/2004

Question
Jamie,

Never thought about that..... here we go:

drawer size (inches) = 35.5w * 23.6d * 1.02h
drawer base (inches) = 0.25, drawer border 0.8

weight drawers = 110 pounds
weight maps = 88 pounds


PS:  I'll be in Vegas in a couple of weeks... (live in Sydney/Australia)

Cheers

-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
Hi,

I am building a cabinet for my map collection (900 maps at this stage).

I need about 15 shallow drawers (900w * 600d * 26h) to store the maps.  I already built 10 of them (I used a 6mm MDF base and a 20mm Oak border).

I am planning the cabinet and would like some advice on the material to use, given the following information:

- the 15 drawers weigh about 50kg
- the maps weigh about 40kg
- the outside diimension will be approx.
 960w * 650d * 520h

I am thinking of using 18mm MDF, but I am not sure if this is strong enough.

Appreciate your advice.

Regards Chris
Answer -
Hi Chris-

Your map cabinet project sounds really fascinating, and I would love to help you with some answers. However, I do not work in millimeters or kilograms, so I am at a bit of a disadvantage. Can you please resend the questions to me in inches and pounds?

I'll be glad to help when I get this information, and have some interesting ideas already.

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV


Answer
Hi Chris-

Just some thoughts about display cabinets and drawers...

A long time ago, I helped design and build 2 large wall cabinets for a fellow who collected baseball cards. He literally had thousand and thousands of cards, filling up an entire room.  So we had many drawers to build and hang. The hard part wasn't necessarily building the drawers; they were all the same size, and basically, they were just a box. But hanging them was going to be the harder job, since there were so many. Hanging drawers really isn't hard, but applying the drawer faces with the correct spacing all the way around can be frustrating and very time consuming.

Basically- his drawers were similar to yours. They were like large "trays" that held considerable weight. We came up with 2 options to make the job easier, and frankly, each added a nice design element to the cabinets.

On one cabinet, we hung all the drawers, but instead of giving each drawer it's own individual drawer face, we placed hinged doors in front of the drawers. So you would open up 2 cabinet doors, and behind them, there were about 8 drawers, ready to be pulled out. It was quite elegant. And hanging 2 doors is much easier than hanging 8 drawer faces. Solution #1.

On the other cabinet, which held boatloads of cards, just for some variety, we made drawers that didn't use drawer glides, used a metal bar as a glide. We built the drawer boxes, and then attached a metal bar, about 1/4" thick, on the bottom of the drawer sides from front to back. These metal strips act as a runner for each drawer. The cabinet case had dados cut into the sides, allowing the metal runners to slide in and out. Since the dados were cut every 2 inches or so, the drawers were adjustable, so he could raise or lower them, depending on which way he stacked the cards inside. (I hope that made sense.)

Some things to think about- your drawer bottom is roughly 2 feet by 3 feet, and that is a pretty big span for 1/4" material used for the bottoms. You will probably have some flexing in your bottoms, but there's not really a better solution, unless you can add a center support underneath the drawer bottom.  That could be tricky.  I am not sure how deep your drawers actually are, but if you can sacrifice some interior depth for some more room under your drawer bottom, you could add a center support which would probably take care of any flexing you might experience.

One solution could be if you enclose (encase) the drawer bottom in a a dado in all 4 of the drawer sides: the front, back and 2 side members. I usually cut a dado on all four pieces at least 1/2" up from the bottom. The higher up you go, the more support you have. I would NOT staple or nail your drawer bottoms in place, as they will probably work loose and fall off over time.

You could also move up to a thicker bottom, which would probably eliminate any flexing, but the weight might become an issue. Your possibly would have to use a heavier drawer glide, if -indeed- that's what you're going to be using.

Have you thought about making the top of your cabinet slanted, like a lectern desk? When you want to look at a map, you can pull out the drawer, place the map on top and view it. Or use it as a display area. Just a thought, I think the concept of your map cabinet is quite fascinating.

Anyway, I am rambling on a bit here. About your original question about the 18 mm MDF - you should be fine using that, just house the panel in a dado and it should reduce some flexing and keep it in place, holding those maps just fine.

Good luck, I hope this helps. Feel free to write back with any other questions you might have after reading this.

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV

PS- Vegas is a great place to live, work and play. I have a feeling it's going to be crazy here on New Year's Eve.  They're expecting a half million people on the strip.  Have you come here before? Do you have a favorite place to stay?  What's your game?  :)