what are "breathing tabs" on drawer slides

[matt braun]

I'm hoping to install some drawer slides and have some questions.


What are breathing tabs?
How do they work?
If I understand the following text (from Lee Valley part 02K49), there is 1/32" of play in the side clearance, this doesn't seem like much breathing room!?! Side clearance is 1/2" plus 1/32" minus 0 each side. Breathing tabs self-adjust to variations in side clearance.

[Jim Matthews]

I'm guessing that these are made by Blum (Lee Valley might better answer that) - which incorporate an alignment pin that keeps things snug, laterally, with seasonal changes.

[Jamie Buxton]

On the cabinet member, some of the screw holes are on a tongue with a U-shaped slot around it. Because of the slot, the tip of the tongue can bend a bit out of the plane of the rest of the metal. That is, the cabinet member can pull away from the cabinet wall just a bit. That's what Lee Valley is calling a breathing tab. Other screw holes in the cabinet member don't have the breathing tab, so you can screw it firmly to the cabinet if you want.

Look at figure 1 in this data sheet, or the perspecitive view just below it. http://www.accuride.com/Resources/PDF/3832C-3834C-R7-0608.pdf

[matt braun]

On the cabinet member, some of the screw holes are on a tongue with a U-shaped slot around it. Because of the slot, the tip of the tongue can bend a bit out of the plane of the rest of the metal. That is, the cabinet member can pull away from the cabinet wall just a bit. That's what Lee Valley is calling a breathing tab. Other screw holes in the cabinet member don't have the breathing tab, so you can screw it firmly to the cabinet if you want.

Look at figure 1 in this data sheet, or the perspective view just below it. http://www.accuride.com/Resources/PDF/3832C-3834C-R7-0608.pdf

Jamie, thanks for the info. That answers my original question but now I have more questions. The data sheet says these slides are not intended for lateral file applications. A lateral file drawer is wider than it is deep. What would happen if I used these slides in a pantry application with drawers sized about 3' wide by 2' deep? Will the slides operate poorly? Will they wear fast? What slides are intended for a 3' by 2' application? (I'm trying to fully utilize a closet under a set of stairs.)

[Jamie Buxton]

The part number you cite is for what Lee Valley calls an extra heavy-duty slide. There's nothing I see in its literature that suggests it should not be used for lateral files.

To select slides, start from the basics. How much weight do you expect to put in these drawers? If you're going to make the drawers 2'x3' by a foot deep, and fill them to the brim with canned goods, that's a lot of weight. If the drawers will be shallower than that, and you'll be storing table linens, that's considerably less weight.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

The data sheet says these slides are not intended for lateral file applications. A lateral file drawer is wider than it is deep. What would happen if I used these slides in a pantry application with drawers sized about 3' wide by 2' deep? Will the slides operate poorly? Will they wear fast? What slides are intended for a 3' by 2' application? (I'm trying to fully utilize a closet under a set of stairs.)

I think that the problem is that a lateral drawer may have more wracking depending on how it is opened. This will be pronounced if there are two pulls on the drawer and only one is used (so that say all the force to open the door is applied to one side of the drawer).

I hope to this shortly, I just need to create the drawer and attach the slides to test (the cabinet is waiting for the drawer).

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Last fall I built 2 rolling cabinets/carts for my shop. One contains a lot of turning tools and paraphernalia. The other cart contains hand tools and accessories for my table saw. I see another one or two of these in my future.

I used slides for the first time. It was a lesson in being critical to sizing the drawer to the cabinet. When the slide specifications say +- 1/32 for example...the width of the drawer must be very much within that specification. I was able to shim my mistakes in my first cabinet.

The 2nd cabinet I built with much more attention to the width of the cabinet and the opening and slides worked much, much better!

I used the same slides in both cabinets...the difference was better execution on my part the second time.