Ikea Kitchen Drawer Extension - With Printed Parts

Bugged by the dropping plastic bowls and boxes behind our big drawer I've made this extension.

The main problem was, that the mentioned high drawers use the same base than the ordinary drawers plus one surrounding rod-line on the half of the drawers height.

This is, when you put much stuff in, not high enough to prevent the stuff falling behind the drawer. At least you have to unmount the drawer and send some small person in the case, to pick the dropped items. In our case we sent our daughter in due the reason we have no dog o pick it. Otherwise the drawer underneath becomes blocked by the dropped items.

So my wife came with the idea, that i could print something, that extends the drawers with a second line, to get rid of dropping stuff.

Step 1: Things You Need.

As you have seen in the introduction some things are need to get printed and organized to build your own extension.

Machines :

An 3D Printer with 0,5 mm nozzle will do the job good enough

A (Battery)Drill

Tools :

A set of drill bits

A folding rule (in my case with cm)

A fine file

Some Screwdrivers

A small tube cutter (recommended)

Materials: ( per one drawer)

A set of printed parts: Left arm, right arm, two carriers

6 wood screws 3x16 mm , or similar . At least short enough, to come not out on the drawers shield-front :(

4 Screws 4x20 mm and nuts M4

Aluminum tubes 6 mm. I needed 2x 51 cm and 1x 51cm . (may vary in your case and drawers with)

Also the filament. I used 3mm PLA.

One set had used in my printer ~ 10 M with 0,3 mm high perimeters @30% infill

Skills:

Basic metal work knowledge would be fine and of course able to print the parts ;)

Step 2: Print It

It would be a nice idea to print the parts at first. If you are familiar with freeCad you can edit the parts to your own needs.

Especially the holes will came out smaller in the print, than designed, in most of my prints. Nevertheless, my printer is well adjusted. Also i ve designed the 6 mm holes for the tubes to 6,2 mm diameter. A least i had to drill the printed holes out by hand with a drill bit clamped in the bench by turning the printed part on the drill gently.

To drill i out the hole with the drill press sounds easier but could be dangerous for the parts. The friction of the drill will quickly melt the PLA and it starts to smear. Also I've destroyed many hours of print within a second, by hooking in the drill, while pulling out in the drill press.

Anyway, the parts can printed "coarse" with a 0,5 mm nozzle and a filament height of 0,3mm. They only have to be stable, hold the tubes and will spend most of their live hidden in the dark.

After the prints had finished you can attach the nuts in their holes.

But now its time to pick the parts and went to the next step..

Step 3: Put All in One Place

Release the drawer out of the case. To do this you have to draw it complete out and pull the front of the drawer upwards until you hear a click noise. Now pull the drawer to your direction and it will release completely. Push the rails back in the case so they can hurt no one.

Put the left and right arm on the drawers backside as shown and use them as gauge to mark the holes. If you don't have a thin pencil who fits in the hole you can drill carefully with a 3mm drill in to set the marks. Now remove the arms and drill the two holes left and right with 5 mm. So the 4mm screws will have a bit space while mounting. Put the arms back and get the length of the corresponding tubes in between. Keep the carriers on the drawers shield in mind while measuring.

Cut he tubes as measured and file the ends cone-shaped so that they will fit better in the holes of the arms.

Stick now all together and fix the arms with the M4 screws and the carrier ends with wood screws on the inside of the shield. Take care to mount the carriers not too close to the shields outside. Otherwise the drawer will not close.

If all looks like in he last picture congratulations :)

You have now the single chance to clean the drawers inside and remove death moths before you put it back in the rails ;)

The last step is put all items back in the drawer. This step comes without description and depends on your content..