I made some drawers.

theREDwonder

Observer
was just wondering, I've posted a bunch about the wasted space in most slide setups and did my own drawer / platform build without any slides at all.
That and I went on a bit about looking for a nice piece of hardwood and carefully cutting all the fascias out of the same piece to maintain a continuous grain just as you have.
Gotcha! Very nice. Removing the slides definitely saves even more space. Mine are 4'6" long and I didnt want to worry about dragging that out along the floor, so I sprung for the slides. I minimized the wasted space as best I could.

Love the idea of using one piece to make drawer fronts and surround to disguise the aluminum tube. You mentioned your OCD and the carpet not matching the bed rug. My OCD says that is not as bad as the aluminum angled braces for the floor mount showing beside that nice finished wood. I would paint them flat black so they are not so apparent when the tailgate is down.

Ha! I look at that as a fuction over form...I'm still an engineer at heart. I need to be able to get into the cubby and that little gusset was the best way to mount the frame rigidly while not taking up too much access space. I could paint it black, but then it wouldnt match the rest of the frame, and that would kill me, ha!
 

jgaz

Adventurer
Very nicely done. I too like the stacked slide design that you used.

That aluminum frame is very impressive as well.
 
Curious as to what CAD software you used. I am looking at trying my hand at Fusion 360. I do have some cad experience but that was many years ago with Autocad 9. I want to be able to design some special parts for CNC machining.
 

theREDwonder

Observer
Very nicely done. I too like the stacked slide design that you used.

That aluminum frame is very impressive as well.

Thank you! It was a bear, aluminum warps sooo much when you weld it. The two C-channels that make up the middle were potatoe chips! They had each warped over an inch before I welded them together. Becuase they warped opposite each other, when welded together they ended up flat.

Curious as to what CAD software you used. I am looking at trying my hand at Fusion 360. I do have some cad experience but that was many years ago with Autocad 9. I want to be able to design some special parts for CNC machining.

I am using Solidworks. I don't have experience with the two you mentioned. Good luck!
 

ralston

New member
Amazing Dude!

Curious how wide the insides are of each drawer? I am curious if a 22" wide stove would fit in the passenger side drawer widthwise?

-Thanks
 

jakomait

New member
Awesome build! I love your efforts to eliminate as much wasted space as possible by tucking the slides over the wheel wells and staggering the center rib! Your inspiring me to weld something too.

I'm over-engineering something similar for my 6'6" bed Tundra but am cruxing out on using slides or just a PTFE runner. How's your experience with unlevel parking and the smooth rolling slides? I really want full length drawers but I can only find 60" (5') slides whereas I'd be limitless on just using PTFE.
 

theREDwonder

Observer
Awesome build! I love your efforts to eliminate as much wasted space as possible by tucking the slides over the wheel wells and staggering the center rib! Your inspiring me to weld something too.

I'm over-engineering something similar for my 6'6" bed Tundra but am cruxing out on using slides or just a PTFE runner. How's your experience with unlevel parking and the smooth rolling slides? I really want full length drawers but I can only find 60" (5') slides whereas I'd be limitless on just using PTFE.

I sold the truck more than a year ago, but only ever had issues with the the slides not locking out when on a little crooked ground. The locking slides need to be all the way extended to lock in place and if the weight pushed it toward the locking slide side, you'd just have to pull the drawer out a little further to get the lock to engage.

With a full length drawer just resting on a runner, you'll need to leave some of it inside the cubby to prevent it from just falling out. And at 6'6", thats a lot of over hang. You can always make a 6'6" drawer and have it only slide 5', then maybe have the back end of the deck flip up so you can access it, or not worry about the 1.5' of space that is under the deck. You should be able to reach your arm in and pull it out. There is no rule that says drawer length must equal slide travel.
 

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