new to drawer slides

[Andy Maldoror]

i need to install drawer slides for the first time on my router table table saw extension cabinet. there's three 19"x22" drawers on the front and then five small router bit drawers on the side..20" deep. i guess the small drawers could just use the common white bottom side mounted roller slides? the larger drawers may store a little bit of weight with extra routers etc. what are good drawer slides for this kind of thing? with 8 slides total should i just go to the big box or should i drive out to the wholesaler? or online? any difference between bottom or side mounted?

[Chris Rosenberger]

I like the side mount full extension slides. I use the house brands & I get them from Custom Service Hardware of Woodworkers Hardware.

http://www.cshardware.com/slides/csh-ball-bearing.asp

http://www.wwhardware.com/kv-tt100-economy-100-lb-full-extension-drawer-slide-kvtt100

[Ruperto Mendiones]

Checkout Blum. All kinds of support on the net. Internet pricing usually saves big bucks. Heavy duty. High wt capacity slides available.

[Andy Maldoror]

thanks,
if the drawer depth is 19 3/4" do i get the 19 3/4" slide or the 17 3/4" ? that measurement includes the frame...do you usually mount them behind the frame in the carc
also i'd like to go ahead and start making the drawers. do i just need to subtract the thickness of the slides? if so do you know the thickness of these slides?

[Andy Maldoror]

Checkout Blum. All kinds of support on the net. Internet pricing usually saves big bucks. Heavy duty. High wt capacity slides available.
i have a meyer half and hour away. they carry KV brand slides.
http://www.meyerdeco.com/funchard.html?coNum=1&page=3&core=1

[Steve Ryan]

Most of the full extension slides are 1/2" thick each. If 19.75" slides fit then use them and make your drawer box 19.5 deep, allow a tiny bit of clearance.

[Andy Maldoror]

are the white roller slides usually about 3/8" thick?

[Jim Rimmer]

:eek: It is imperative that you buy the slides before you build the drawer box. Take this from a guy that is going to have to build wooden slides because he built the drawers first and then tried to find slides that will fit. You need to have them in hand to know the side and rear clearance required.

[Steve Griffin]

By "white rollerslides" I assume you mean something like the Blum 230ms.


They come in 2" even numbered increments, require 1/2" space each, and you need at least 1/2" above your drawer box to insert them. Drawer boxes can have a plant on bottom.

They are a great choice for a shop, as they are cheap, strong, work well when dusty, make drawer box construction easy, and are tolerant of slight imperfections in width/out of square. They are partial extension, but full extension is overrated and hardly worth it except perhaps for shallow top drawers or shallow cabinets.

I still love them for kitchens, though it's been years since I've used them as people think they need expensive full extension soft close contraptions with 400 parts. The "soft close" feature could also be called the "harder to open" feature.

[scott vroom]

Andy, the best advice i can give you is to:

1) Always buy the slides before building the drawer boxes

2) Always use the manufacturer's instructions on drawer box dimensions for their slide (i.e., don't rely on forum responses)

I prefer Blum Tandem for their solid engineering and excellent design, however there are other less expensive slides that will work fine.

[Andy Maldoror]

i'll get the 230ms for the small drawers, but which model blum tandems for the larger drawers? any reason i should or shouldn't get bottom mounted slides?

[Steve Griffin]

Tandems come in 3" increments, but unlike the 230's require almost an inch extra space behind them. So if you have 19" deep interior, go for the 18" length. All this stuff is on the internets on the blum spec sheets.

But why mix slides and have to build two entirely different drawer boxes? The 230m's are PLENTY strong for your bigger drawers. If you are doing this for the learning experience, I'd probably put the Tandems on top, where you would enjoy the full extension more. Roughly 4" of the 230's stays in the cabinet when fully open, and if you have a countertop it will seem like even more. You will hardly notice that 4" with a tall deep drawer with large objects in it, especially because you can build a deeper drawer box than the tandems would allow.

Good luck! Drawer slides can be a bit of a challenge to get up to speed on, and a shop cabinet is the best place to learn.

[Tom Blank]

I've had good luck with these from McFeelys. http://www.mcfeelys.com/drawer-slides They often have free shipping. Full extension, ball bearing slides are well worth their cost, especially the full extension feature.

+1 on having the slides in hand before making the drawers. These require 1/2" clearance per slide. I left an extra 1/32" per side (1/16" total) clearance just to make sure there was no side load on the slides.

[Tom Ewell]

are the white roller slides usually about 3/8" thick?
1/2" side clearance is fairly standard for side mounted slides (per side)

If you need 3/8" I believe these (http://woodworker.com/fullpres.asp?PARTNUM=804-304&LARGEVIEW=ON) can be used but face frames look to be needed to install.

Did a tight budget kitchen with them almost 25 years ago and a recent visit showed them to be still going but the roller disks were getting a bit rough on their 24" wide, heavily loaded "junk drawer".

[Andy Maldoror]

would you recommend the kv economy? http://www.wwhardware.com/kv-tt100-economy-100-lb-full-extension-drawer-slide-kvtt100

or the 8400? http://www.wwhardware.com/kv-8400-full-extension-100-lb-ball-bearing-drawer-slide-kv8400

and should i try out a couple of these for the two 20" drawers since it seems to be a great deal? http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=31170&filter=drawer%20slides%20full%20extension

[Joe Angrisani]

.....any reason i should or shouldn't get bottom mounted slides?

The only real difference is that the undermounts look great, but they steal height from the drawer box. You don't really notice it on tall drawers (say 6" and taller), but on a shallow drawer (like a silverware drawer in a typical kitchen) it makes the drawer noticably and annoyingly shallower.

[Andy Maldoror]

any recommendations from that list?

[Tom Ewell]

any recommendations from that list?
If your case setup and drawers will work with all or either of those slides on the list I would recommend the ones that best fit your purpose and budget.

Myself? In a workshop environ I pretty much use up what I have on hand first but if need to purchase slides for shop drawers I go for basic function. I don't need the features that would be suggested for a kitchen. I get the most cost effective units for the particular need, if I don't need full extension I'll go with inexpesive "euro" slides, if I need full extension for a couple of drawers, I'll run down to the local box store and pick up some side mounts out of convenience. I also have many a drawer that just use a simple wood rail setup.

It's your shop, put it together how you want. If you screw something up, no biggie, that's part of the process.