How To Add Drawers To A Desk

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Whether y'all're making a desk for a personal projection, or fixing a cleaved or missing drawer, making your own drawers can be a fun and easy process! In fact, drawers are really relatively easy to make, as a drawer is basically just a box that moves in and out on a track. You only need to make the drawer itself, buy drawer slides, and figure out how to attach it to the desk-bound. With a few supplies and a bit of fourth dimension, you can have a make new drawer to shop all your desk supplies in.

i
Apply a ruler to mensurate the depth, width, and height for your drawer. Before you purchase the supplies for your drawer, you lot demand to effigy out how big y'all want it to exist. Mensurate the space nether the desk and and then decide what size drawer volition fit well in the space.
- Yous will need to determine the depth, width, and height that y'all want the drawer to be earlier ownership supplies.
- The drawer does not demand to bridge the unabridged width of the desk. Just measure out out the area where you think the drawer size you want might fit nicely.^[1]
2
Measure the leg clearance that y'all will need nether your drawer. When planning out the drawer, you lot demand to make sure that it volition not block your legs from going under the desk-bound. To program this out, sit at the desk in the chair y'all volition use and measure the distance between the summit of your legs and the bottom of the desk. This altitude will determine how tall your drawer can be.^[2]
- Give yourself a few inches between the top of your legs and where the bottom of the drawer volition be. This volition ensure that you lot are able to comfortably motility your legs in and out of the area one time the drawer is installed.
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3
Purchase enough lumber to make each section of the drawer. You will need a piece of plywood that is the width and depth of the drawer yous want to make. You volition besides need a piece of lumber that has a width that is the same every bit the height of the drawer. This piece of wood should be long enough so that you tin can cut it into the iv side pieces.^[3]
- The lumber for the sides of the drawer should be about .5 inches (1.3 cm) thick. This will brand the drawer sturdy but not as well heavy.
- To figure out how much wood y'all need for the four side pieces, add together the width and depth of the drawer and double that number. This will give you just a fleck more length than y'all need.
iv
Pick out drawer slides for the underside of the desk. Drawer slide hardware allows the drawer to motility in and out using wheels or ball bearings and information technology comes in a wide variety of styles. You will need to get a prepare that can adhere to the side of the drawer, instead of the bottom of the drawer. The slides you want should also attach directly to the underside of the desk, as opposed to being made to attach to the inside of a contained expanse or another configuration.^[four]
- Also, the slides demand to be the right length. They should be the same length as the depth of the drawer, or a few inches shorter.
Tip: If you lot are unsure what drawer slides to purchase, talk to an employee at your local dwelling improvement shop or go to a specialty wood working store, where they will have lots of options and know how.

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1
Measure and marker out the plywood for the bottom of the drawer. The measurements for this piece of plywood should be the drawer width past the overall depth of the drawer. Marker the width measurement on a straight edge of the plywood. Then employ a framing square to make a square corner and use the depth measurement to describe a line up from the corner. Repeat this on the other finish of the width marks and then consummate the rectangle with a last line.^[5]
- For example, if yous want a drawer that is 2 feet (0.61 m) wide by 1 pes (0.30 m) deep, your plywood should likewise have those dimensions.
ii
Cut out the plywood for the bottom of the drawer. Use a round saw, jig saw, or table saw to cutting along the lines you drew. Take your time and cut the wood slowly so that your cuts are direct and smoothen.
- If you don't become exactly directly cuts, you tin use sandpaper to smooth out the edges.
Warning: When making your cuts on the table saw, do not endeavour to 'freehand' the cutting. Each piece of wood must be supported past the saw'southward miter gauge or a crosscutting sled. If not, the wood may kick back at you, which can lead to serious injury.
three
Measure out the front, back, and side pieces of forest. These 4 pieces will create the frame of the drawer. The front and dorsum pieces of wood will need to be the total width you want the drawer to be. The length of the side pieces will need to be the desired depth of the drawer minus the width of the front end and dorsum pieces of wood.^[6]
- For example, if your drawer needs to be 12 inches (30 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) deep, the front and back pieces should exist 12 inches (30 cm) long. The side pieces should be 8 inches (20 cm) minus the width of the forepart and back pieces.
- You need to adjust the length of the side pieces because they will take the front and back pieces attached to their ends.
four

Cut out the 4 pieces of woods for the drawer frame. Use your saw to cut along the lines you have marked on your wood. After you have fabricated your cuts, bank check the length of your pieces and ensure that you know which ones are the front and back pieces and which ones go on the sides.
5
Position the side, front, and back pieces so they form the frame. Place all four frame pieces on a flat piece of work surface. Identify the front and back pieces on their sides parallel to each other at the same altitude apart as the depth of the drawer will exist. Then identify the left and right side pieces inside the ends of the front and dorsum pieces.^[7]
- When positioned correctly, the ends of the left and right side pieces will exist covered by the ends of the front and back pieces.
Tip: Information technology may exist helpful to notice someone who can aid you with holding the frame pieces in place.
6
Glue the frame together. Run a line of wood gum on the surfaces where the finish of the left and right sides and the forepart and back pieces contact each other. In one case a thin layer of mucilage is applied, clamp all iv sides together with straps or clamps. ^[8]
- Equally you are attaching the sides, make sure to keep the whole frame foursquare. Cheque it with the framing foursquare after positioning, gluing, and clamping them to ensure that your drawer stays foursquare.
7
Screw the frame pieces together. Drill pilot holes at each corner through the front and dorsum pieces into the side pieces. And then insert screws to adhere them securely together.^[9]
- Utilise screws that are long plenty to become through the front and back pieces and deeply into the side pieces.
viii
Screw the lesser of the drawer onto the bottom of the frame. Place the lesser of the drawer on the meridian of the frame. Check that the piece of plywood y'all have fits over the frame exactly and then run a dewdrop of glue forth the meridian of the frame where it will meet the plywood. Position the plywood and clamp information technology in place before making pilot holes and screwing it to the frame.^[x]
- When drilling and screwing the plywood into place, exist certain that you lot are going into the center of the frame pieces exactly. If y'all miss the eye, you could exist inserting screws into the within of your drawer.^[11]
ix
Put a finish on the drawer if you lot'd like. If you lot want the drawer painted, stained, or sealed, now is the fourth dimension to do information technology. Make sure that the finish is thoroughly dried before proceeding with attaching it to the desk.
- It may be that you want the drawer to match the desk as closely equally possible, in which case yous would desire to try and match the paint or stain on the desk. However, you could paint or stain it a contrasting color to make it stand out and requite information technology a decorative look.

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1
Trace the drawer on the underside of the desk. Place the drawer on the underside of the desk where you want information technology to be positioned when information technology is closed. Trace around it with a pencil when information technology is in the right spot. ^[12]
- These marks will assist you install the sliding hardware in the correct position.
2
Adhere the sliding hardware to the underside of the desk. In nearly cases, you will adhere 2 metallic slide guides onto the underside of the desk with screws. These slides will be positioned on both sides of the drawer, lined up with the outline you traced there. Your specific slides will come with instructions for how far off the outline your slides need to go, so be certain to follow the directions.^[13]
- It'southward important that the slide guides are the right distance autonomously and installed parallel to each other so that the drawer can slide in and out easily.
Tip: Which pieces attach to the underside of the desk and which attach to the drawer itself will exist described in the instructions that come with the slides.
3
Screw the sliding hardware onto the drawer. Follow the directions that came with the slides to position them correctly on the sides of the drawer. Pay close attention to how far down from the tiptop of the drawer they are, how far from the front of the drawer they are, and that they are level. Once they are positioned correctly, marking the holes where the screws will go with a pencil. Then screw the slide hardware onto the drawer with the screws supplied with the slides. ^[fourteen]
- Information technology may be that you lot have to put the drawer in identify between the slide guides you already installed and mark their position on the side of the drawer before attaching the slide hardware on the drawer. Practice this if your slide instructions tell you to do it.
- In some cases you will besides put the sliding hardware into position in the slide guides and and then put the drawer in place. This will permit yous to marker exactly where on the drawer the screws that hold the slide hardware should become.
4

Insert the drawer into place. Once the slide hardware is attached, insert the slide pieces that are attached to the drawer into the slide pieces that are attached to the underside of the desk. How the slide guides and the slide hardware connects varies, and so consult the directions if information technology is unclear.^[fifteen]

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Things You'll Need

Plywood for the drawer bottom
Wood for drawer sides.
Screws
Sandpaper
Wood mucilage
Paint or sealant for the surface, if desired
Sliding hardware
Pencil
Clamps or straps
Saw
Framing foursquare
Drill

Instead of edifice your ain drawer, you lot can use a small-scale filing cabinet, an attachable drawer, or boxes or other organizational containers to hold your desk-bound supplies.

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