Anyone interested in 83 Pace Arrow Tear down and Rebuild?

I did find out today, that painters tape does a decent job of holding things together, until I could get the assembly into the clamps to hold it until the glue dries.

Bruce Brown wrote:
Where did you come up with a 4-5 lb savings???

By your own weights its 3.1 lb lighter, and thats without the front - or any kind of slide either.

Your math doesn't add up, no pun intended.

The math figures like this. The smaller drawer is roughly 18x18". With a weight of 6.39 lbs, that figures to .01972 lbs per sq inch. 6.39 / 324. (18*18=324).

The drawer I need is roughly 20 x 24", or 480 sq inches, and only weighs 3.74 lbs, for 480 sq inches.

Taking the .01972 lbs per sq inch, multiplying it by the 480 sq inches that I need for the drawer, and we now have approx 9.4656 lbs for a drawer built like the smaller one, but in the larger size that I need.

9.4656 - 3.74 = 5.7256 lbs difference in weight for the same size drawer.

That's how I arrived at the difference, for the approx same size drawer, which they are not, at the moment.

zigzagrv wrote:
What type of drawer slides are you planning on using? Full extension slides are fairly heavy. The standard drawer slide would add less weight, but would add strength and rigidity to the 1/4" plywood.

My initial thought was something like this, which would keep the drawer centered, with very little play sideways, and like the ones in the rear, very little drop when extended to about 80%.

At this point, I am not sure the assembly will work, so when the glue is dry tomorrow, I'll have another look.

Obviously, this is not to scale.

Where did you come up with a 4-5 lb savings???

By your own weights its 3.1 lb lighter, and thats without the front - or any kind of slide either.

Your math doesn't add up, no pun intended.

What type of drawer slides are you planning on using? Full extension slides are fairly heavy. The standard drawer slide would add less weight, but would add strength and rigidity to the 1/4" plywood.

Here is one of the prototypes I am working with for my drawers. (wooden drawers, not underwear)! :)

This is constructed entirely of 1/4" plywood. All 4 sides have a groove cut in them to allow the drawer bottom to ride in.

This was my first attempt to assemble it, and it was a bit of a struggle trying to get it together.

I have not glued it together yet, and probably need to make an additional jig to help hold it together while assembling to do so.

At this point, I don't know if it will work, or if I need to go a little heavier.

I think I'll glue it together tomorrow and we'll see what it looks like after the glue dries.







The good news is that currently, this assembly weighs only 3.254 lbs, which is a far cry from the 6.39 lbs of a much smaller drawer.

This one is roughly 24 x 20 instead of the 18 x 18 of the other one. Granted, I don't have a front on this yet, but that doesn't have to be heavy either.








Being able to save 4-5 lbs on every drawer would amount to somewhere between 64 and 80 lbs less weight, as I have 16 of them to build, so I think it's probably worth taking a look at before just building the rest of the drawers.

With all that said, this type of construction won't be used on higher end vehicles.

Can you imagine a Prevost owner finding drawers in their rig that looks like that? Yea, not going to happen.

I am not bashing any particular manufacturer. This is just what I found when I took this particular drawer apart, and would bet there are many models of trailers and entry level motor homes that use, (or did), this type of assembly method.

Hope you found this interesting, as I did.

Here are all of the parts of this drawer, deconstructed. Lol.







Closeup of the 40 staples, 2 screws, drawer pull, and a couple of pieces of plastic that comprised the drawer.

The drawer face (Oak), held to the front piece of the drawer by,.... you guessed it - staples. It is also held together with a pair of screws that hold the drawer pull on the front.







We also cannot forget the high grade wood grain looking stick on, that covers the poorer looking parts inside.

Removing the drawer bottom from the front and the rear panel, yielded the same results, being held together with staples and zero glue.