Upgraded drawer slides |
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bhamster
Senior Member Joined: 19 May 2011 Location: Washington Online Status: Offline Posts: 165 |
Topic: Upgraded drawer slides Posted: 20 May 2011 at 11:01am |
We just got our pod a few weeks ago and the first weekend when I was cleaning/configuring for the first trip I noticed that the drawers were crooked. Not only that, but they didn't slide smoothly or close flush. I thought they just needed some adjustment, but when I pulled the drawers out I saw that the slides were poorly anchored, bowed, and twisted. I tried adjusting them, but the slides themselves were just cheap and defective. So that same day I got some nice over-travel slides and made my first mod. The slides I bought attach to the side of the cabinet, so I had to build some sides (since the rpod cabinet is pretty open). I used 1/4" plywood for the right side and some 2"x2" spacers with 1/4" plywood on the left side. The end result is a huge improvement. The drawers operate perfectly smoothly and they snap closed very securely. The biggest discovery of the whole project though is that there is another 5-6" behind EACH of the drawers that was just wasted space. One of my next mods will be to build some nice drawer boxes that are 5-6" longer to utilize that additional space. With the over-travel slides most of it will still be easily accessible. Here are some pictures of the finished mod:
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Snowbound
Senior Member Joined: 17 Apr 2011 Location: Edmonton, AB Online Status: Offline Posts: 270 |
Posted: 20 May 2011 at 12:30pm |
very tidy looking job!
T
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Tom and Bette
in our 177 "The Gastropod" |
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Hodge-PODge
Senior Member Joined: 11 Apr 2011 Location: Calhoun, GA Online Status: Offline Posts: 539 |
Posted: 20 May 2011 at 2:08pm |
Wow, that looks great!
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2011 RP 177, the Hodge-PODge
2011 Mercedes ML350 "A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it." |
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pmjensen
Senior Member Joined: 17 Aug 2010 Location: South Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 179 |
Posted: 20 May 2011 at 2:25pm |
Nice job, fortunately the drawers in Nuestro Pod have never given use any problems.
Happy Podding |
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2011 R-176 Nuestro Pod
2014 Silverado |
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psaman
Senior Member Joined: 26 Jun 2010 Location: Corpus Christi Online Status: Offline Posts: 231 |
Posted: 20 May 2011 at 2:37pm |
Outstanding job!!
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2011 R-177 "Sponge-Pod"
2011 F-150 XLT "Texas Edition" |
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techntrek
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9059 |
Posted: 20 May 2011 at 2:52pm |
Nice, I agree that you might as well take advantage of the space if you can. Probably can't get much extra from the bottom drawer because of the utilites behind it, but the other two should work.
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Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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bhamster
Senior Member Joined: 19 May 2011 Location: Washington Online Status: Offline Posts: 165 |
Posted: 20 May 2011 at 3:16pm |
techntrek-
Believe it or not, that bottom drawer can also be another 5" or so longer. They had a little plywood backstop behind it that was wasting 3 or 4 inches and the slide mounts themselves (which faced out from the plywood) wasted another couple inches. The top two drawers can pretty much go all the way to the wall. I just need to watch that propane pipe. I'll post some pictures of the new boxes once I make them. I'm currently building a CNC machine to help with such projects, but it need a couple more months of tinkering before it's ready. |
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techntrek
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9059 |
Posted: 20 May 2011 at 10:13pm |
Definitely interested, I've always felt those drawers were too small.
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Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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Farmers
Newbie Joined: 24 Apr 2011 Location: Connecticut Online Status: Offline Posts: 35 |
Posted: 21 May 2011 at 8:25am |
Nice work bhamster! I too had noticed the extra space behind these drawers and plan to utilize it also. Building a CNC machine for pod mods ? How cool. (I'm sure it's not just for pods .) I've worked in the machine tool industry since 1978, retrofitting CNC controls . I would prefer to be a farmer, I've had enough of technology , time to go camping . Still cool that your tinkering though .
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"The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark."
— John Muir RP-177, towed by Dodge 2500 2wd |
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Guests
Guest Group |
Posted: 21 May 2011 at 3:26pm |
Great work! Adapt, innovate, conquer!
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