Difference in Blum verses BORG Full Extension Slides

[Andy Cree]

What is the difference between the Blum brand full-extension, ball-bearing slides and what you find at the local BORG such as Menards?
Thank you!
Andy

[Moses Yoder]

What is the item number of the Blum slide you are looking at? Blum is an exceptional company, innovative and on the leading edge of technology. Generally their products are very good quality and Menards sells the cheapest slide they can possibly negotiate from a manufacturer in China probably. Lowes used to sell some Accuride which is also a good slide, not sure if they do any more.

[Robert Parent]

What is the item number of the Blum slide you are looking at? Blum is an exceptional company, innovative and on the leading edge of technology. Generally their products are very good quality and Menards sells the cheapest slide they can possibly negotiate from a manufacturer in China probably. Lowes used to sell some Accuride which is also a good slide, not sure if they do any more.

Not totally true.... Menards sells a large number of American made products.... Yes, they also sell stuff from China as everyone does. However,I think you need to take a closer look before making such a statement in a public forum. No dog in the game, but don't like to see a good organization trashed for no reason.

Robert

[Richard Coers]

Not totally true.... Menards sells a large number of American made products.... Yes, they also sell stuff from China as everyone does. However,I think you need to take a closer look before making such a statement in a public forum. No dog in the game, but don't like to see a good organization trashed for no reason.

Robert

You get a generalized question with no details about what slides he is looking at, you should expect a generalized answer. I see nothing wrong with what Moses said. Are BORGs usually known for high quality drawer slides?

[Moses Yoder]

Note that my statement about the Menards slide is qualified with the word "probably". I am a very frequent customer of Menards, was there last night picking up some pine to slap together a DVD shelf unit today. So far as my qualifications for making such a statement, I have worked in the kitchen cabinet industry for over 25 years now. At one time I was a purchaser for a kitchen cabinet company that did high end custom kitchens and I dealt extensively with Blum. I even know how to read their specifications.

[dan sherman]

come on
If you don't have anything to contribute please move on, rather than post yet another everything from china is crap rant.


What is the difference between the Blum brand full-extension, ball-bearing slides and what you find at the local BORG such as Menards?
Thank you!
Andy

it depends on the price difference, off the top of my head the following are possible reasons for a difference in price.

1. fit and finish: as in is all sheet metal de-bured, and what type of lube did they use on the slides
2. material quality: what metal are the slides, ball bearings, and supplied fasteners made from
3. The quality of the instructions. I've purchased slides before that had no instructions whatsoever.
4. How recognizable is the company name. You would be shocked at how much things can be marked up based on the name stamped on them.

[John Keeton]

This thread degraded quicker than most. The OP asked a valid question, but failed to provide a specific comparison to actual products. That gave rise to other comments about Menards that were based on supposition ("probably") and downhill from there.

At this point, until the OP provides identifiable products for which comparison can be made, no further comments need be made in this thread.

Thanks.

[Andy Cree]

Allow me to rephrase the question: What kind of issues might one run into when using the full extension, ball-bearing slides sold at Menards?

Thank you!

Andy

[Ethan Melad]

I just checked Menard's website, and as far as i can see they don't sell any undermount slides at all. And I don't believe Blum makes any side mount ball bearing slides. So theres no good comparison here.

Menards sells KV side mount BB slides, whive I've not used but I think are fine. They also sell anther brand I've never heard of which are much cheaper. I would imagine they are not built with particularly tight tolerances or quality bearings.

I bought a bunch of the 'house brand' undermount slides from Custom Service Hardware a while back and i'd say probably 50% work great - as well as a blum - 40% work fine but have noticeable issues, and 10% were practically broken after barely any use.