Reply by Dan Lyke

‘tween the cows and the chickens, Petaluma is kind of a contented little burg.

You could fit B behind the drawers (put a little tab with a hole in it out the back of the drawer), and you could put A on the side of the drawers (a little hook out the side) and make it out of sheet steel so it took almost no depth at all.

And think a bit about what “a bit of side clearance” means: If you can build B precisely enough that you only need ½” or so of throw (find someone with a welder? Use a MAPP torch and braze it?) you could route recesses in a ¾” panel that’d hold it.

But from your example link, if you take those sides (or just one of them) and extend just a little bit over the front, then locking that side would also lock access to the drawer…

-- Dan Lyke, Petaluma California, http://www.flutterby.net/User:DanLyke