How to attach drawer bottom for heavy duty sliders?

Maker Talk
1

I have a pair of 500lb heavy duty drawer slides. All the examples that I’ve seen use a butt joint to attach the plywood bottom of the drawer to vertical plywood sides, but it seems unlikely that plywood screwed up into plywood would be strong enough to make use of the 500lb capacity of the slides - I expect it would take much less tension force applied to the bottom would rip the screws through the core of the vertical pieces.

Here’s an example: https://youtu.be/1Qc9BmZf5W8?si=cJWH3CgXI4PoI_lm&t=375

and another: https://youtu.be/veAFhB5UQds?si=nJoUcLloNA4_ssBE&t=227

A few alternatives I’ve considered are banding the plywood bottom with a 90* metal bracket, wrapping the plywood bottom with a dadoed hardwood frame, and building a hardwood frame under the drawer slides.

The dimensions of the drawer will be about 70"Lx20"W

Any thoughts are appreciated.

2

I’ve used recycled chassis slides in projects before. I didn’t realize they made them in such high capacity. And you’ve got to love the latching feature for vanlife. Currently I need to mount a freezer chest that will pull out from under a bench seat. Normally I’d just beef up a wood frame to support the excess weight but space is at a premium in this case. So I’m welding up a steel frame and base to support the chest inside a thinner plywood veneer.