The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

The New Hotness

  • Desk Drawer Stops

    The stops aligning the top two drawers of an old desk vanished, so I got the job of replacing them. They’re hammered into the wood frame:

    Drawer Stops - width measurement
    Drawer Stops – width measurement

    And stand up just enough to engage the back of the drawer face:

    Drawer Stops - height measurement
    Drawer Stops – height measurement

    Back in the Basement Laboratory Shop Wing, I harvested steel strips from a defunct PC case, rubber-hammered them flat, sharpened a cold chisel (un-hardened, so it always needs sharpening), and got to work:

    Drawer Stops - chiseled blanks
    Drawer Stops – chiseled blanks

    The pointy sides should have sharp edges, which you get for free with a chisel. You also get a bench full of little steel slivers perfectly suited for embedding in human flesh. Wearing eye protection is more than just a good idea, too.

    Introducing what will become the visible edges to Mr Disk Sander makes them marginally less hazardous:

    Drawer Stops - in progress
    Drawer Stops – in progress

    A slightly fuzzy picture of a test fit shows the stops should suffice:

    Drawer Stops - trial fit
    Drawer Stops – trial fit

    Which they did:

    Drawer Stops - installed
    Drawer Stops – installed

    Nobody will ever notice the blob of hot melt glue behind each one:

    Drawer Stops - glue blob
    Drawer Stops – glue blob

    Done!