Drawer Slide Measurement - How To Measure Length

[Yoda]

Jim's recent post reminded me of a repair I need to do. On my Alaska Trip I had the kitchen door side 3-drawer cabinet drawers fail. The side brackets collapsed along with the particle board rear support structure. I need to replace the slides as they are losing the bearings and plastic inserts and wont stay closed anymore.. I went on the parts lookup page and they show half a dozen slides of various dimensions - which seems strange as the kitchen drawers are all one size. I think the bath are too. Only the bedroom ones are deeper.

So how do you properly measure for length?

Now the back support appears to have slots the drawer slides attach to, but that part in not in the lookup. So bottom line are the GD slides OK or should I go to HD and try and match them up. There is also room to deepen the drawers. Also things tend to bounce out and down behind them, so I need some side blocking to prevent that. Anyone have some Idea on how to do - space through the styles is limited.

Now the cabinets seem to be put together with pocket hols screws - are the frames also glued? I was thinking of taking some of the front styles off to get good access to the back. Anyone done this?

In case your wondering why they failed - I had some heavy batterys and tools (multi bit screw driver, pliers(2), tape measure, and duct tape along with glue and spare batterys), and it failed and then added weight to the ones below. Probably my fault for packing wrong

Thanks for any help
Keith

[Jlawles2]

Keith, On full extension slides the length is the total length of the side rail or drawer box length (assuming the box back stops flush with the cabinet face).

For the engineer in me to you - https://www.accuride.com/en-us/blog/...ide-data-sheet

https://www.accuride.com/en-us/produ...ver-disconnect is the closest name brand that I have used before. There are others out there.

https://www.accuride.com/media/amast...afd3f74da0.pdf Slide dimensions
https://www.accuride.com/media/amast...2d34777f52.pdf Rear to wall bracket
https://www.accuride.com/media/amast...4413f7db6a.pdf slide to face bracket

We always mounted them to a plywood runner from the cabinet face to the back of the cabinet. In an RV, cut a cross member the same width as the HOLE in the face to stick BETWEEN the wood runners. When you get the drawer fitting correctly, the wood spacer in the back becomes the attachment to the wall (just shoot it through the cross board for ease).

$$$$

[Yoda]

Keith, On full extension slides the length is the total length of the side rail or drawer box length (assuming the box back stops flush with the cabinet face).

For the engineer in me to you - https://www.accuride.com/en-us/blog/...ide-data-sheet

https://www.accuride.com/en-us/produ...ver-disconnect is the closest name brand that I have used before. There are others out there.

https://www.accuride.com/media/amast...afd3f74da0.pdf Slide dimensions
https://www.accuride.com/media/amast...2d34777f52.pdf Rear to wall bracket
https://www.accuride.com/media/amast...4413f7db6a.pdf slide to face bracket

We always mounted them to a plywood runner from the cabinet face to the back of the cabinet. In an RV, cut a cross member the same width as the HOLE in the face to stick BETWEEN the wood runners. When you get the drawer fitting correctly, the wood spacer in the back becomes the attachment to the wall (just shoot it through the cross board for ease).

$$$$

Thanks for all the information. I am assuming that your recommending the Accuride brand.. Prices don't look that bad and I like the metal rear support bracket. Thanks for the mounting tips too.

Keith

[Jlawles2]

You can use whatever brand you want. Back a few hundred moons ago I used Accuride and a few other brands doing home custom work. I always liked Accuride as they had a few subtle features that you took for granted until you used another brand. They have the better closed locks and if you get the right spec even open lock. Easiest lever to use for pulling them apart also.

You can grab whatever brand the orange, blue, or red box store has on the shelf or order from amazon. KV (Knappp Voight) are not bad either. Find what's local and you can get the parts for installation easy or let me know and I will sketch up the wood side with back board for you. Production work we did not have time for fancy metal brackets, plus wood scraps for slide supports were the right price.

If you are not replacing, but building new, consider flat mounting them as you get about 3/4" more inside width on the drawer (I know not a lot but every smidge helps) plus the slide helps act as bottom support .

My favorite slide but it does not work for rolling earthquakes is a Blum Tandem with Motion (yes they are $$$$) But they take special drawer construction and length. https://www.amazon.com/BLUMOTION-Com...s%2C131&sr=8-1