Upgraded drawer slides

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:

Wow, that looks great!

Outstanding job!! 

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.

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 .