Best drawer slides for chest of drawers

[slarti42uk]

I've seen various posts relating to drawer slides but i wanted to just get a quick opinion.

For a child's bedroom chest of drawers would the full extension runners be a bit odd? On most of the retail bedroom furniture I have (or have seen) they only open about 3/4 of the way. The other issue that occurred to me was the risk of full extension runners causing the thing to topple if a heavy top drawer were opened.

The main reason I want to go for slides by the way, is so the it is very smooth and easy for my 4 year old to use even when full of stuff.

The other main reason for asking is that I cant seem to find anything but the full extension ones. Are these only used by flat-pack furniture makers?

Cheers
Steve

 

[Slim]

Hi Steve,

You can get single extension drawer slides very cheaply from Isaac Lord.

For a normal chest of drawers I would say that full extension slides are not necessary.

HTH

 

[slarti42uk]

Ah, excellent. Although I'm not so keen on that style of slide, I prefer the ball cage type.

Having looked on the Isaac Lord site I found exactly the ones used in another chest of drawers I bought. here
These go into a groove in the drawer side. Does 12kg sound a bit light weight to be called heavy duty? The ones you linked to were rated for 25kg.

Are these too cheap and nasty?

 

[slarti42uk]

Just seen these

I like the look of concealing it but would you say 1" is a lot to loose from the height of the drawer?

 

[jasonB]

I use the tandem ones quite a lot as they look better by the fact that they can't be seen. What you loose in height you gain slightly in width.

I would get the ones with integral Blumotion softclose, may protect little fingers a bit better.

Jason

 

[DomValente]

To add to what jason has said, you can also get those with self close but not both.
That is the drawer needs a gentle push and then pulls itself shut over the final inch.


Dom

 

[slarti42uk]

Thanks for the input. The depth of the drawers requires 400mm slides but I can't see those on Isaac Lord with Blumotion, only 450 and 500. The other site is crazy prices compared to Isaac Lord. Anyone know where else I could try or if Isaac Lord can get other sizes?

Cheers

 

[DomValente]

You could tryhere

But they will cost £17.50 +v.a.t. per pair, cheaper than woodfit but possibly still expensive

Dom

 

[WellsWood]

cheaper than woodfit .......

isn't everybody?

 

[jasonB]

Depends what discount you get from woodfit, the prices I linked to are retail and VAT inclusive (Isaacs are plus VAT), if I logged myself in I would see them about 40% less excluding VAT :wink:

For example a pair of 500mm full ext'n tandems with blumotion cost me £17.36 + VAT

Jason

 

[tim]

I set up trade accounts with Woodfit and Hafele before I started doing this for a living. All they asked for was a fax of some headed notepaper.

Worth a go surely - its no skin of their noses they just need to show their retailers (like Isaac Lord) that they aren't competing directly for the same business.

Cheers

Tim

 

[ivan]

Isaac Lord are listing the 500mm blumotion for 17.66 a pair for 12+ pairs for allcomers; presumably that's the same as the trade price? Handy for weekend woodworkers undertaking a bigger job.

 

[orangetlh]

issac lord will stock 450 tandem runners. Dont forget you will also need to buy the runner clips if using this type and they are about 50p each.

Ivan, that isnt far off trade price. Thats about what we are paying for singles. Never need to order 12 at a time really.

 

[slarti42uk]

Ok. I've decided on the following runners: Blum TANDEM 550H Single Extension Runners for Wooden Drawers - with Blumotion (30kg)

My question (just before I shell out £60+) is how easy are these things to fit? Or more to the point how hard is it to design/make drawers the will fit? (working in SketchUp)

Will I need the jigs for drilling or can I make my own? I only have five drawers so I don't want to spend out on expensive jigs if it can be avoided.

Cheers in advane
Steve

 

[jasonB]

Easiest thing is to order a Woodfit catalogue as this gives all the sizes you need such as:

Internal width of drawbox
depth of draw (front to back)
distance up for the draw botton
you will also need a notch in the front and back of the drawbox to clear the runners and a small hole to locate the back of the runner.

If you can't get a catalogue in time PM me and I will scan it.

You don't need any jigs.

Jason

 

[slarti42uk]

Thanks Jason,

I downloaded the Blum Catalogue but the exploded diagram looked very complicated. I guess these are the same guides as the woodfit ones?

As long as I don't need jigs I'm happy. I gues I can work out the dimensions for everything from the catalogue. Pages here

 

[Corset]

I recently fitted some blummotion soft closures in a wooden drawer i made. I found them very easy to fit hower i did not understand what they meant by the internal drawer width. I thought they meant the drawer width and made the drawer 25mm to narrow. I expect this is obvious if you have done it before but it did leave me baffled until i worked out they meant the internal width of the drawer( i think thats what they meant).
I know that is a bit poor description but if you get the measurements right they very very easy to install but there is little forward and back adjustments.