Hey folks. I made my wife a dresser and I noticed that when closing the drawers there is air pressure that makes them kind of tough to close. This seems to make sense to me but I want to avoid it in the future. The drawers fit tightly, are flush with the face of the cabinet they run alongside the inside of the dressers sides and they stop when they hit the dresser's plywood back. They are on wooden runners on the bottoms. Now I am making another dresser and want to avoid this problem. Can I solve it simply by gluing 1 inch by 1 inch stock to the back of the dresser so that the drawers are stopped by these and not the back of the unit? This would seems to leave somewhere for the air to go? Many thanks for any advice.
dresser drawers have air pressure? help
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It would be just as easy to drill a small hole in the back of the cabinet. I'm assuming it sits against the wall. If not, you can stop the drawers where you want. Having the drawer contacting the back of the dresser (by any method) isn't a good thing.
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That's bad when you get air pressure in your drawers. :laughing: A lot of times that happens when you put a bottom in the framework under each drawer. There is no place for the air to go. Most furniture that has a stack of drawers has a bottom only on the very bottom. That way there is more space around each drawer for the air to escape. Many pieces don't have anything at all, the cabinet is open all the way to the floor.
On the existing piece, you might drill a 1" hole in the bottom or back to let the air escape.
On the existing piece, you might drill a 1" hole in the bottom or back to let the air escape.
Awesome thanks guys for the quick responses. The bottom frames are not solid (except for the very bottom one). I think I will drill holes in the back of my wife's and keep the back of the drawers from hitting the back of the cabinet in the new one. Do you think a 1 inch hole centered for each drawer should suffice? Drawers are about 20 inchers across by 18 deep by about 12 tall. thanks again
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just a WAG...
wild arse guess... I don't think a 1" hole will be enough. That's a large drawer and I am surprised you don't have some "suction" upon opening as well. :blink: As Steve says usually the entire bottom is open and the unit is up on legs of some sort which helps the air come and go. If each drawer is sealed off from the others that makes the condition even worse. You might consider the vents used on computer desks: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=1177&site=ROCKLER
wild arse guess... I don't think a 1" hole will be enough. That's a large drawer and I am surprised you don't have some "suction" upon opening as well. :blink: As Steve says usually the entire bottom is open and the unit is up on legs of some sort which helps the air come and go. If each drawer is sealed off from the others that makes the condition even worse. You might consider the vents used on computer desks: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=1177&site=ROCKLER
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I would start with a single hole and see how it goes. You can always add more holes if needed.
You must have the drawers fitted very tight to cause you that much trouble if you only have the bottom solid. There is a chance in humid weather the drawers will stick when the wood swells. If that happens you might have to use a belt sander with some coarse paper and reduce the width of the drawer.
LMAO!!!:laughing:
Thanks again for the advice. It is frustrating because I finally got really good fitting drawers that do not stick but this is the tradeoff. I'm optimistic that if I just keep the new ones from hitting the back I'll be ok. Live and learn.
A 1" hole should be more than enough. But there are a couple possible sources. The back of the drawer contacting the back of the cabinet is not one of them. The problem comes from one or more sections that are getting "sealed" as the drawer closes.
This could be from the tight fit of the face. To check, since all of the drawers are open to each other, you can open 2 drawers and the close one. If the problem goes away, then the holes should fix it. You may be able to do just one hole, if you don't align it with one of the drawer backs.
If leaving one drawer open doesn't make the problem go away, you will need to look for other possibilities. This is hard to speculate about without having it in front of me. But, one possibility is the drawer slide is creating an air pocket as it closes. If this is the case, a very small hole in the slide where the air pocket is would solve it. You could also check to see if the frame of the drawers is built so it can trap air to prevent it from going to the other cavities. In this case, a small hole (maybe as small as 1/4") in the back behind each drawer would solve the problem.
This could be from the tight fit of the face. To check, since all of the drawers are open to each other, you can open 2 drawers and the close one. If the problem goes away, then the holes should fix it. You may be able to do just one hole, if you don't align it with one of the drawer backs.
If leaving one drawer open doesn't make the problem go away, you will need to look for other possibilities. This is hard to speculate about without having it in front of me. But, one possibility is the drawer slide is creating an air pocket as it closes. If this is the case, a very small hole in the slide where the air pocket is would solve it. You could also check to see if the frame of the drawers is built so it can trap air to prevent it from going to the other cavities. In this case, a small hole (maybe as small as 1/4") in the back behind each drawer would solve the problem.
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I think you have far too much precision in your woodworking! :laughing:
Bill
Bill
In my experience most of the good quality/well made furniture had a dust divider between drawers.
George
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