Blum guides failing after 1 year

[Brian Runau]

My purchased kitchen cabinets are @ 5-6 years old. Last year the spring on the under mount guides for the trash cabinet seemed to fail. When you closed the unit, the springs would not pull it all the way closed.

After replacing the guides they worked fine until about 2 weeks ago. There is nothing blocking their movement in the cabinet, but when you close them they only go so far on their own. They will close all the way, but I have to push them closed the last 1/2"-1".

Only thing I can think of it is a poor design, too much weight on them with two trash bins. One we use for paper recycling and the other for trash.

I have a 11 second video, but can't figure out how to upload it, sorry.

Brian

[David Zaret]

i've used thousands of these slides. they rarely, if ever, fail. 99% of the time the issue is one of alignment, squareness, or poor installation.
... assuming we're talking about the tandem undermount or movento undermount. 563, 763.





My purchased kitchen cabinets are @ 5-6 years old. Last year the spring on the under mount guides for the trash cabinet seemed to fail. When you closed the unit, the springs would not pull it all the way closed.

After replacing the guides they worked fine until about 2 weeks ago. There is nothing blocking their movement in the cabinet, but when you close them they only go so far on their own. They will close all the way, but I have to push them closed the last 1/2"-1".

Only thing I can think of it is a poor design, too much weight on them with two trash bins. One we use for paper recycling and the other for trash.

I have a 11 second video, but can't figure out how to upload it, sorry.

Brian

[Brian Runau]

David, why would they fail, factory installed, after 5, 6 years? I used the exact same guides and mounting holes on 2nd pair that failed in 1 Year.

[Richard Coers]

Does anyone in your family compress the trash with the slides fully extended? That can create loading that the slides were never designed to handle.

[David Zaret]

David, why would they fail, factory installed, after 5, 6 years? I used the exact same guides and mounting holes on 2nd pair that failed in 1 Year.

don't know. i replaced a pair recently on a garbage unit where the soft close models failed - leaked oil all over the bottom of the cabinet. but the slides remained functional. i swapped out the slides, and that was that. maybe once every 5 years i swap a set of tandems....

i hope you get it figured out. that's an important cabinet!

-- dz

[Brian Runau]

Does anyone in your family compress the trash with the slides fully extended? That can create loading that the slides were never designed to handle.

It's possible. I sold linear guides for THK and I'm trying to recall what this is called, "moment load?" brian

[Dave Sabo]

It’s the design cabinet’s design that’s the problem.

Under-mount slides especially mounted at bottom of the carcass is just asking for trouble- doesn’t matter if they are Blum, or Accuride , or whatever. You can help mitigate the problem by moving the runners up the carcass and suspending the bins in a frame rather that setting them in a drawer box as well as using the 130?lb rated slides instead of the reg. rated ones. But ball bearing , side mount slides are capable of supporting a lot more weight and dynamic loads.

[Brian Runau]

Dave, was leaning this way, Hoping to avoid it. To much weight for the design. Oh well, at least I have tools and skills to correct the problem. Thanks Brian

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I wonder if high humidity or off gassing from the trash contributes to the failure. I have learned not the use the slide as a drill guide for the screw holes because the sawdust falls into the track and gets jammed into the mechanism. I am always disappointed when a client chooses soft close drawer slides, they are fussy.

[Dave Sabo]

I wonder if high humidity or off gassing from the trash contributes to the failure. I have learned not the use the slide as a drill guide for the screw holes because the sawdust falls into the track and gets jammed into the mechanism. I am always disappointed when a client chooses soft close drawer slides, they are fussy.

It’s a variable that must have some effect, but practicality speaking you couldn’t measure it and does not contribute to the problem.

Soft close guides (at least Blum’s) are not different from reg. versions except for the oil filled damping cylinder. Swarf from your in situ drill op won’t affect that cylinder - it’s completely seal. It can get in the rest of the mech. / spring an and is especially attracted to the grease in them. But, this is the same whether they are reg. versions or soft close.

[Bob Falk]

Dave Sabo, is this the type of frame you are referring to but with side mount slides? I am having the same problem as the OP with my bottom mount Blum slides. Thanks, bobhttps://www.drivenbydecor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/kitchen-cabinet-storage-ideas.jpg

[Dave Sabo]

Nope - that’s just a regular ol drawer with under mount slides that’s been tarted up with extended ht. sides and a semi fitted skirt.


This is what I’m talking about:

https://rev-a-shelf.com/2502

[johnny means]

The piston mechanism on Blum slides can sometimes become out of sync with the position of the drawer. The piston will be in the closed position while the drawer is open. This causes the latching mechanism to be in the way when the drawer is closed instead of being in position to latch onto and pull the rail.

[Tom M King]

I always used KV 8505 slides on trash pullouts, even after we started using undermount slides on everything else. I was selling the houses, and they never stopped a sale, or ever even heard a complaint comment.

[Bob Falk]

Nope - that’s just a regular ol drawer with under mount slides that’s been tarted up with extended ht. sides and a semi fitted skirt.


This is what I’m talking about:

https://rev-a-shelf.com/2502

Excellent. Thank you! Cheers, bob

[Christian Hawkshaw]

Nope - that’s just a regular ol drawer with under mount slides that’s been tarted up with extended ht. sides and a semi fitted skirt.


This is what I’m talking about:

https://rev-a-shelf.com/2502

When we had our kitchen remodeled 12 years ago, that is the type they used on our trash bin pull out. No problems with it at all.

[Brian Runau]

The piston mechanism on Blum slides can sometimes become out of sync with the position of the drawer. The piston will be in the closed position while the drawer is open. This causes the latching mechanism to be in the way when the drawer is closed instead of being in position to latch onto and pull the rail.

Is there a way to reset them. Brian

[Dave Sabo]

Is there a way to reset them. Brian


If the piston doesn't spring open when the slide is move ...............then it's broken/dead.

I think what johnny means is there is a nylon guide/tab/catch in a track that is placed in front of the piston which is also spring loaded and it's that piece that can get fouled by dirt, chaf, ect... or comes out of the track or the spring broken and that will keep the drawer from operating properly or worse - not close.

Sometimes that guide can be reengaged or synced into its home/alignment. Sometimes it's just broken and can't. There are no service parts to repair it, you've just gotta replace the runners.

[Brian Runau]

If the piston doesn't spring open when the slide is move ...............then it's broken/dead.

I think what johnny means is there is a nylon guide/tab/catch in a track that is placed in front of the piston which is also spring loaded and it's that piece that can get fouled by dirt, chaf, ect... or comes out of the track or the spring broken and that will keep the drawer from operating properly or worse - not close.

Sometimes that guide can be reengaged or synced into its home/alignment. Sometimes it's just broken and can't. There are no service parts to repair it, you've just gotta replace the runners.

I opened the drawer and pushed these gently back. They retracted. When I closed the drawer it reset and worked, but only 3 or4 times, then back to not working. ??? Brian

[Dave Sabo]

I opened the drawer and pushed these gently back. They retracted. When I closed the drawer it reset and worked, but only 3 or4 times, then back to not working. ??? Brian


Happens more often than not. Your guide is broken, bent , warped ect….. Time to order new slides.