Drawer rails install#

Side-Mount Drawer slides for side mounting usually come in sets or pairs with slides for each side of the drawer. When determining the most suitable mount type, you have to consider the space between the cabinet opening and the drawer box. There are three mount types for drawer slides: side mount drawer slides, center-mount slides, and undermount slides. What are the different Slide Mounting Types?ĭeciding the mount type is important but more than likely it has already been decided for you by the cabinet design. Like the two-roller design, the ball bearings within each grove of the mechanism give it horizontal stability and allows for a level extension. Once the drawer member reaches the end of the ball bearings, the intermediate member will begin to slide along the ball bearings between itself and the cabinet member until fully extended. The first set interfaces with the groves of the cabinet member and the intermediate member, while the second set interfaces with the groves of the intermediate member and drawer member.Īs the mechanism extends, the first component to move is the drawer member, which slides over the ball bearings between itself and the intermediate member. They also make use of a third component, the intermediate member, which interfaces with two sets of ball bearings. This two-roller design gives the mechanism horizontal stability and allows for level extension.īall-Bearing Slides make use of ball bearings instead of rollers to allow for telescopic motion. When fully extended, the two rollers will meet. As the mechanism is extended, the cabinet member’s roller allows the drawer member to move outwards and the roller of the drawer member follows in the grove of the cabinet member. the drawer.Įach roller will fit into the groove found on the other member and will be at opposite ends of the mechanism when fully retracted with the cabinet member’s roller being at the front.

the cabinet, and the drawer member attach to the moving component, i.e. As their names suggest, the cabinet member mounts to a stable or grounded component, i.e. Roller slides consist of two components, the cabinet member and the drawer member, each having its own roller, usually made of plastic. Generally, you will use a pair of slides in any application and will most likely encounter two main types: Roller Slides and Ball-Bearing Slides. Slides are not motorized but can be coupled with a linear actuator to provide greater stability. They generally work by allowing one grove component to slide over a rolling component, which allows the entire mechanism to extend or retract. They are commonly found in a wide range of household or office applications like desk drawers, kitchen cabinets, and pull-out cutting boards but can be used in a wide range of applications that require linear extension and retraction. For this reason, you probably want to pick a telescopic-style drawer slide.Ī drawer slide, or sometimes called a drawer roller, is a mechanism that allows for telescopic motion in one axis. Once you know the length of extension required you also need to measure the closed length to make sure that whatever drawer slide length you buy will actually fit once closed without sticking out of the cabinet. We recommend you choose a slide length that corresponds to the size of your drawer, so you have to first measure your drawer depth. What size drawer slides do I need? What Length Do I Need?ĭrawer slides generally come in extension lengths between 10 and 32 inches to fit a wide range of cabinetry requirements. Center mount drawer slides and under-mount drawer slides are also options. Mounting location: Side-mounted drawer slides are the most popular and easiest to install.Hardware stores usually give this weight capacity when closed, so be careful. All Firgelli slides weight capacities are rated for fully open. It is important to determine if the weight capacity refers to when the drawer is closed or open. To make things worse, when the slides are fully extended that weight capacity decreases significantly, typically by 50%. Weight capacity: Most big box store-style drawer slides are cheaply made and don't offer much in a way of weight capacity.Drawer slide travel or extension: This refers to how far open you want the drawer to fully extend.There are three basic things you need to consider when choosing the ideal slides. So how do you choose from all the options?

Drawer rails install#

There are so many types available on the market, some very complicated to install and require a professional and others very simple and can be done by anyone. Selecting the right drawer slides for your application can seem complicated. There are several different types of drawer slides:įIRGELLI Drawer slides can be used for all of the above applications and come with bumper stops for soft closing.

What are the different types of Drawer Slides?