Larry Edgerton
01-16-2014, 9:04 AM
I am working on my own house and it has gotten out of control so in an effort to cut costs I thought I would try some of the Accuride/Knape & Voight copies coming out of China. GlideRite seemed like one of the more standup sellers so I ordered a case.
The first one I picked out of the case was defective. It was the only one and I thought it was strange that the drawer side of the slide did not go back in flush, but hey, its what it is right? So I made a drill jib off of this slide. Fortunately I decided to install one drawer first to see how they worked and discovered that the slide was defective. Lost time but no huge deal and I am sure the company will send me a new one. I have installed thousands of Accuride and Knape & Voight premium slides and have never had a bad one though, so a thought to ponder.
The grease on the slides is too thick. It may be that is how they make them seem smooth, and they are, but there is too much resistance and the little hydraulic cylinder spring will not pull them in all the way. I will have inset drawer fronts and this will be a problem for my fanatical self. I sprayed them with a spritz of starter fluid and they work fine until the either evaporates. We will see how they work with a few miles on them, but if they do not improve I will be changing them out for KV 8417's, my no callback favorite. I have 8417's in my current house and in ten years no failures, and the mechanical spring catch is simple and flawless. you can bump a drawer with you hip and it will close nicely every time, something the GlideRites will not do. Also, just at the point that the spring/hydrulic cylinder takes over there is a restriction, both on the way in and on the way out. I have just a screw in the drawer boxes for a temp pull, and it is hard to pull out the drawers with just the screw.
I went through my stash of leftovers and I have Accuride 3832's, and 4034's along with KV 8417's in the same kitchen, so I can directly compare. GlideRites need some better QC and a lighter grease along with smoothing out the catch to be something that I would install in a customers house. I have 36 drawers that I am installing and I saved about $360. Would I do it again? NO! I will give them some time to see how they break in, but chances are they will be replaced, so they are not so inexpensive in that case.
I thought I would try the rear hangers as I usually make them out of wood. I did one cabinet with the hangers, took them out and threw them away. They are the same as everyone else's hangers, so not necessarily a GlideRite thing, but I find them to be slower than my old system and a lot less precise.
GlideRite is not a sponsor here so I hope I can speak freely without being edited, but I am this line will be gone soon....:p
Larry
The first one I picked out of the case was defective. It was the only one and I thought it was strange that the drawer side of the slide did not go back in flush, but hey, its what it is right? So I made a drill jib off of this slide. Fortunately I decided to install one drawer first to see how they worked and discovered that the slide was defective. Lost time but no huge deal and I am sure the company will send me a new one. I have installed thousands of Accuride and Knape & Voight premium slides and have never had a bad one though, so a thought to ponder.
The grease on the slides is too thick. It may be that is how they make them seem smooth, and they are, but there is too much resistance and the little hydraulic cylinder spring will not pull them in all the way. I will have inset drawer fronts and this will be a problem for my fanatical self. I sprayed them with a spritz of starter fluid and they work fine until the either evaporates. We will see how they work with a few miles on them, but if they do not improve I will be changing them out for KV 8417's, my no callback favorite. I have 8417's in my current house and in ten years no failures, and the mechanical spring catch is simple and flawless. you can bump a drawer with you hip and it will close nicely every time, something the GlideRites will not do. Also, just at the point that the spring/hydrulic cylinder takes over there is a restriction, both on the way in and on the way out. I have just a screw in the drawer boxes for a temp pull, and it is hard to pull out the drawers with just the screw.
I went through my stash of leftovers and I have Accuride 3832's, and 4034's along with KV 8417's in the same kitchen, so I can directly compare. GlideRites need some better QC and a lighter grease along with smoothing out the catch to be something that I would install in a customers house. I have 36 drawers that I am installing and I saved about $360. Would I do it again? NO! I will give them some time to see how they break in, but chances are they will be replaced, so they are not so inexpensive in that case.
I thought I would try the rear hangers as I usually make them out of wood. I did one cabinet with the hangers, took them out and threw them away. They are the same as everyone else's hangers, so not necessarily a GlideRite thing, but I find them to be slower than my old system and a lot less precise.
GlideRite is not a sponsor here so I hope I can speak freely without being edited, but I am this line will be gone soon....:p
Larry