DIY RAS cabinet

[toolguy1000]

over the last two weekends, i invested in 2 sheets of plywood for a cabinet to support my RAS. it's my first attempt at a freestanding cabinet with drawers so be gentle. the top is a double layer of 3/4" plywood and the dividers between the drawers rest in side and rear dadoes. i realize now that wasn't really necessary, but i wasn't sure when i started that i'd want the drawers and i wanted to try doing it that way anyway. the drawer runners are what i removed from the kitchen cabinets when i installed soft close Blum runners. the bottom of each drawer is 1/4" pegboard as i had a 4'x4' piece around the shop. the drawer fronts are from whatever 3/4" ply i had left over from other projects. any suggestions for shop made drawer pulls? i thought i saw something in shopnotes that used pvc pipe but i can't find it using their search feature.

[Pappy]

Nothing to be gentle about....Looks good to me!

[mpc]

I've seen handles made from trim molding sticks: find something with a fairly fat base and not so fat on top. Run the fat end over a cove router bit for about 2 or 3 inches along the length of the stick. Use a long stick and use the router to make 4 or 5 coves... then cross-cut the stick to separate the 4 or 5 handles, leaving a little gap between the crosscuts and what was routed. The coves will become fingertip access when mounted to drawer fronts. (thinking about this... such grips sound like the noses on the Easter Island statues!)

Another way, which works for on drawers with a false front, and what I did on an entertainment center recently:
* Run a 3/4 to 1 inch groove across the face of the drawer - in my case, it ran edge to edge. I used a basic dado stack in the table saw to make these...
* Use a T-slot router bit to undercut one side of that dado/groove. Run the bit at two overlapping depths to make a slot big enough for your fingers. The end result should have a "T" slot shape at the top of the groove only and look like a regular dado/groove along the lower lip
* use a roundover bit in the router to ease the lower edge of the dado/groove so the backsides of your fingers won't have a sharp edge to catch on.
* Lightly sand the inside lip of the "T" to knock off the sharp edge.

Worked well for my cabinet - gave it a modern look and the resulting "handles" don't stick outwards from the drawer fronts. Pics of my trial/mock-ups attached; the lower mock-up shows the handle. The mock-up above it is easier to make but didn't work as well: there isn't enough "lip" to grab. And a pic of the completed project to show how the resulting "handles" don't stick out - something to consider on a tool support cabinet. Whacking knees into drawer handles sucks.

For cabinets where looks are less critical you could probably mimic this by using two pieces per drawer: a large rectangle below and a simple stick for the top grip part - just separate them to make the groove/dado.

mpc

[JimD]

Looks good.

I like to glue the fence to the RAS top. It doesn't wander around on me as it used to with the clamps. I also like the top surface of the top to be 1/4 masonite. It's cheap and easy to replace after it gets chewed up.

For handles, another easy idea is to take a piece of solid wood scrap, put a large cove bit in the router table, and cut both sides with the cove bit forming something that looks a bit like a T except the verticals are the curved cove shape. A piece 3 inches or so long screwed to the drawer front makes a nice and essentially free handle.

Jim