Well I have my first project that I get to use my new drill press on.
The project
Extend the sides of the drawers of our 2 drawer file cabinet so that it can be used as a regular drawer.
Background
We have a file cabinet that is not being used for files and a lot of office supplies that our other drawers have no room for.
Plan
Using some scrap wood and the metal wire sides that came with the file cabinet I will extend the sides up about 3 inches.
Construction
Steps that I took:
- Measured the sides and rear of the file cabinet draw(s).
- Cut pieces of wood to those measurements
- I then used a brad gun to nail the sides to the rear piece (it creates an upside down "U")
- Found the place where the existing wire rods went into the drawer. Marked the wood in these spots.
- Drilled holes with my drill press in those marks for the wire
- Used a hack saw to cut the wires to the proper length between the wood and the draw sides
- Used a vise to pinch the end of the wires so that were flared. This allowed some tension between the wood and the wire so that I hammered it in instead of having to glue it.
- Hammered the wires in.
- Inserted the new sides into the drawer.
- Repeated the above for the second drawer.
Things that I would have done differently
- I would have not used the brad nails to secure the sides. I actually had one come apart on me. I think screws or dowels would have worked better.
- I would have not assembled the sides to the back before measuring to. This caused a lot of stress on the joints and this is why they came apart. This did not have to be assembled to measure those locations
- Would have finished it with lacker. I just sanded it
Conclusion
This is a cool quick project if you need an extra set of drawers and have a file cabinet that is not being used.
P.S. I lost some of the pictures on this site when transferring from one host to another. I am in the process of fixing that right now and will have pictures for this post shortly.
