Drawer Slides

[Jim German]

I'm building a dresser and am trying to figure out what drawer slides to use. I don't mean for the dresser to be heirloom quality or anything, but I would like it to be able to stand up to a good bit of abuse.

The dresser will have 7 drawers, so I'm a bit concerned about the cost of the drawer slides. For instance, the Blum tandem slides are ~$40 a piece, and spending $280 on drawer slides seems ridiculous. On the other hand, I suppose I could make some wooden rails, but they never seem to work very well.

Does anyone have any good suggestions? Also are there any good online stores to get slides from?

[Lee Ludden]

While not something I would use for a dresser, I just ordered these (http://wwhardware.com/catalog.cfm/GroupID/Cabinet%20Drawer%20Slides/CatID/Drawer%20Slides%2C%20Full%20Extension%20Ball%20Bea ring/SubCatID/Economy%20Full%20Extension/showprod/1) based off of comments in this (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=142573)thread.

They also have pretty good prices on the Blum tandem slides (<$30 ea for 21" full extension).

[Lee Schierer]

I've used the "Liberty Enameled drawer slides" from the orange BORG on dressers, none have failed thus far. Metal slides can be used on dressers without compromising the "overall worth" of the piece as an heirloom IMO. If the builders of old furniture would have had them available, I'm sure we would see many pieces with metal drawer slides in them today. It is rare to see an older piece of furniture that has seen a lot of use that hasn't had sloppy drawers or drawer slide repairs. I've made pieces that I expected would see low use with wood slides and they have also worked well.

[Joe Chritz]

1150 slides from Custom Service Hardware.

Cheapest decent quality ball bearing slides I have found so far. I intentionally used them in a pantry cabinet of mine to torture test them and so far (4 years) still going strong. I don't know if I have overload them yet but a big drawer of soup cans has to be pretty close.

I have used a lot of them and so far I am pretty impressed. They are stiff when you get them, customer service said it is from the lube. They do loosen up after some use.

Joe

[Fred Voorhees]

Listen, if you want something that will stand up to daily wear and tear and not cost you much at all, do what I have been doing for years. I have been using those cheap plastic drywall corner protectors that you can buy in eight foot lengths at the big boxes for just a few dollars each and you can get two drawers worth of sliding in each. They simply hot glue on the bottom of the sides of your drawers and that is it. Sounds to good to be true...right? I will tell you this....I installed them on my dresser drawers around five or six years ago...maybe more than that and they get daily use and they have not shown a bit of wear and they allow the drawers to glide like waxed banana peels. You will be amazed. I simply glue wooden runners onto the dust frames at the appropriate height and distance apart and that is it. Unless I intend to make something like a museum piece (and I don't see that in the foreseeable future) I will continue to use these cheap and effective plastic corner protecters

[Erik Christensen]

I use blum tandems with the soft close option & yes they are expensive. I even used them in my shop cabinets. I love the way they work and after investing a bunch of my time making something I don't want to scrimp on the hardware. I have a few drawers that I made before I discovered the blums and I am constantly irritated that when I give them a shove and walk away they don't close themselves.

Other options suggested here are great until you use something you like a lot more then you tend to go with that.

[Lee Koepke]

I bought some 14" ball bearing slides from woodworkers hardware for $4.59 each. They are similar to accurides but substantially less expensive.

For me, they are being used for a TV stand at my house, so I dont expect heavy loads or alot of service.

Dont know if they'd work for you, but it was worth it for me based on money alone.

[Kevin Groenke]

We have almost 4000 pr of WW Hardware's "economy" tru-trac slides (http://wwhardware.com/media/products/apcharts/TT100sellsheet.pdf) in service from 1-3 years in educational environments. Hard to beat that pricing. I believe that this is an imported slide marketed domestically by K&V. No reports of failure other than those that have occurred when installing completely removed drawers.

We'll be assembling another 25 deesks with 100 pr of slides in the next couple weeks.



http://design.umn.edu/current_students/leo/hall/images/CDesk_v2.0_UMod.jpg

[Jim German]

Has anyone ever used the Blum Solo slides?
Also how come most drawer slides seem designed for cabinets not for furniture?

[James Malcolm]

Woodpeckers is sell slides by the case until midnight July 1st. ~$77 for 10 pairs of 18" slides, just under ~$100 for 10 pairs of 24".