I just finished a set of kitchen cabinets. One cabinet has 4 38"
wide drawers. Depths vary from 6" to 10". The drawers are about
21.5" deep to fit into a 24" cabinet. I don't expect a heavy load in
the drawers; most of it will probably be used to store bulky plastic
containers etc... The drawers are made from baltic birch (3/4" front
and back - 1/2" on the sides), are dovetailed all the way around, and
are 1 1/16" narrower than the European style cabinet opening to allow
for .5" slides on the sides.

I planned to use Accuride 3832 HDTR (Heavy Duty Touch Release)
slides. However Accuride says the drawers are too wide and will be a
problem when the drawer is fully opened. The drawer can move
laterally and pull the slide apart.

I'm looking for easy solutions to prevent the lateral movement. The
only one I have so far is the X slide under the drawer - similar to
what was used in the old barrister bookcases to prevent problems with
opening and closing the glass door.

Anybody have any other sliders or ideas to solve the problem? Anybody
made wide drawers and found that the lateral motion was not a
problem?

Len

On Dec 18, 11:47*am, " wrote:

SNIP

Look around on this group, searching "drawer slides". For some reason
there has been a lot of interest in this subject lately, and a lot of
good info has been posted.

It sounds like you have contacted Accuride and received the
information on lateral movement. When they advised you against using
their slides in this particular application, did you ask for an
alternative? They may have something perfect for you.

Anybody have any other sliders or ideas to solve the problem? *Anybody
made wide drawers *and found that the lateral motion was not a
problem?

A 38" drawer is a wide drawer. And if not properly constructed will
easily twist when loaded, more so if loaded heavily, even worse if
loaded unevenly and allowed to sit.

That being said, I installed a similar slide to the one you posted on
an under the oven unit in a kitchen retrofit a while back. It was a
100lb duty rating, full extension drawer that literally comes all the
way out of the cabinet. It is loaded with glass cookware of all types
as well as some larger casserole pans.

So far no problems.

I bought KV slides, not as sexy as Accuride, but a quality slide. I
like them as they give you plenty of places to put in full head
screws. I usually drill the slides and put in a couple of extras if I
know there will be actual heavy duty use.

The drawer size was 32 wide, 22 deep, and 10" in depth. To keep the
drawer from racking (I didn't build the drawer originally) I glued and
screwed a piece of highly sanded and painted to match piece of 1 1/2"
X 1 1/2" in the center of the drawer box, inside the drawer. It is
screwed not only through the drawer bottom, but through the sides as
well.

Experience reminded me that the wider the drawer, the increased
necessity for accurate installation and need for a stable platform for
the drawer. I very carefully installed the slides making sure that
the sides were parallel and even in height. More so than normal.

Just as important, I reinforced the cabinet (to minimize any flexing
there as well) before completing the installation.

It sounds like you have a pretty good investment in time in this
project. I think if I were you, I would make myself a dummy
installation (maybe use it for storage somewhere else) piece and test
out the slides you are interested in and their installation.

You will be plenty peeved if you spend a lot of time building,
fitting, installing, and finishing only to have yourself as well as
others notice the drawers don't work well.

As always, just my 0.02.

Robert

wrote


Anybody have any other sliders or ideas to solve the problem? Anybody
made wide drawers and found that the lateral motion was not a
problem?

I agree with Robert on the KV's ... probably one of the best slides for the
price around.

Have you got enough room to ADD a center mount slide in the middle of the
drawer?

http://www.rockler.com/Tech/9301.pdf

Can be "flat mounted" in the center and is full extension to boot.

FWIW ...

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 10/22/08
KarlC@ (the obvious)

wrote:
I just finished a set of kitchen cabinets. One cabinet has 4 38"
wide drawers. Depths vary from 6" to 10". The drawers are about
21.5" deep to fit into a 24" cabinet.

Anybody have any other sliders or ideas to solve the problem?

You could always use lateral file slides (KV8500 or similar). They're
designed to handle wide drawers.

Chris

I have similar drawers in my kitchen and have installed similar drawers in
other kitchens.
I do however have my our drawers packed with pots, pans, and lids.
I used 100# full extension side mount slides.

You should not have a problem. Additionally last year I built a tall tool
chest with 8 or 9 drawers, 22" deep, 40" wide. All have self closing 100#
full extension slides. No problems at all and some of these drawers are
probably loaded down with 40-50 lbs.




wrote in message
...
I just finished a set of kitchen cabinets. One cabinet has 4 38"
wide drawers. Depths vary from 6" to 10". The drawers are about
21.5" deep to fit into a 24" cabinet. I don't expect a heavy load in
the drawers; most of it will probably be used to store bulky plastic
containers etc... The drawers are made from baltic birch (3/4" front
and back - 1/2" on the sides), are dovetailed all the way around, and
are 1 1/16" narrower than the European style cabinet opening to allow
for .5" slides on the sides.

I planned to use Accuride 3832 HDTR (Heavy Duty Touch Release)
slides. However Accuride says the drawers are too wide and will be a
problem when the drawer is fully opened. The drawer can move
laterally and pull the slide apart.

I'm looking for easy solutions to prevent the lateral movement. The
only one I have so far is the X slide under the drawer - similar to
what was used in the old barrister bookcases to prevent problems with
opening and closing the glass door.

Anybody have any other sliders or ideas to solve the problem? Anybody
made wide drawers and found that the lateral motion was not a
problem?

Len

On Dec 18, 10:20*pm, "Leon" wrote:

*Additionally last year I built a tall tool
chest with 8 or 9 drawers, 22" deep, 40" wide. *All have self closing 100#
full extension slides. *No problems at all and some of these drawers are
probably loaded down with 40-50 lbs.

Leon - what kind of bottom did you put in the drawers? Did you put a
stiffener in the drawer inside or underneath it? I have never built a
drawer that wide (40" ! ) and would be afraid the drawer bottom would
sag.

Inquiring minds over here....

Robert

----- Original Message -----
From:
Newsgroups: rec.woodworking
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 11:14 PM
Subject: slides wide drawers


On Dec 18, 10:20 pm, "Leon" wrote:

Additionally last year I built a tall tool
chest with 8 or 9 drawers, 22" deep, 40" wide. All have self closing 100#
full extension slides. No problems at all and some of these drawers are
probably loaded down with 40-50 lbs.

Leon - what kind of bottom did you put in the drawers? Did you put a
stiffener in the drawer inside or underneath it? I have never built a
drawer that wide (40" ! ) and would be afraid the drawer bottom would
sag.

Inquiring minds over here....

Robert

Yes, on the Tool Chest I did put in "some" stiffeners. The drawers vary in
depth top to bottom and the deeper drawers received stiffeners. The drawer
sides are 1/2" Baltic Birch and the bottoms are "dado'ed in" 1/4" plywood.
The deeper drawers that will hold more weight, have 2, 1/2" x 3/4" lengths
of Ipe Pocket holed on each end. They run from the front to the back of
those particular drawers under the plywood bottom and are evenly spaced from
one side to the other, basically at 1/3 the width of the drawer intervals.
That said, if I removed all the drawers from the chest there would be a
large unobstructed cavity. Basically the face frame does not have
horizontal dividers between the tops and bottoms of the drawers. Because
there are no dividers the drawers are pretty closely situated to one
another, bottoms close to the tops. IIRC there is about 1/8" clearance
between the top of a drawer and the bottom of the drawer above it. There is
"slight sag" on the heavier drawers as the Ipe strips will rub the drawer
front directly below. The rub is slight however as the lower drawer always
stays shut with no hint of opening when the heavier drawer above it is
opened. If both drawers are opened there is no indication that the lower
drawer would be dragged shut if the upper drawer is closed. the false
fronts on the drawers are the same height as the drawer fronts however are
1" wider than the drawer fronts to conceal the drawer slides on the sides.

On the heavier drawers there is some degree of wobble, one side starts to go
in first when fully opened. This is the concern of the OP. The wobble is
absolutely a no issue situation with absolutely no hint or fear of the
slides separating. There is no wobble at all if you push the drawer closed
from the center. You really have to try to make the drawer wobble.


On the kitchen drawers the drawer sides are short and there is a lot of
space between the drawer bottoms and tops. I used no stiffeners on those
drawers and the bottoms are made of 1/4" plywood also.

The deeper drawers that will hold more weight, have 2, 1/2" x 3/4" lengths
of Ipe Pocket holed on each end. They run from the front to the back of
those particular drawers under the plywood bottom and are evenly spaced
from
one side to the other, basically at 1/3 the width of the drawer intervals.


Read the above statements as the Ipe was 3/4" thick and I ripped 1/2" wide
strips from that board, the width from the bottom of the drawer front and
back to the bottom of the plywood bottom. The Ipe strips/stiffeners are
approximately 22" long with a single pocket hole on each end that I used a
1" pocket hole screw to attach to the fronts and backs of the drawers.

On Dec 19, 7:16*am, "Leon" wrote:

On the heavier drawers there is some degree of wobble, one side starts to go
in first when fully opened. *This is the concern of the OP. *The wobble is
absolutely a no issue situation with absolutely no hint or fear of the
slides separating. *There is no wobble at all if you push the drawer closed
from the center. *You really have to try to make the drawer *wobble.

Thanks for the great explanation. It makes a lot of sense, and now I
know why I didn't know what OP was talking about.

Your hint?

Opening from the center. When I stopped to think of your post, I
realized that all the really wide drawers I had built that rode on
slides were in kitchens. That means all the drawers had center pulls!
AHA!

So when the wide kitchen drawers were loaded or unloaded, the opening
and closing motion was coming from exactly the center of the drawer,
thus no racking or wobble. That's why I hadn't seen that.

When my full extension slides would wobble or have excessive movement,
it was always because the drawer needed an adjustment tweak. After
that, the wobble went away.

What you said made perfect sense to me. Way to go Leon!

Robert

wrote in message
...
On Dec 19, 7:16 am, "Leon" wrote:

On the heavier drawers there is some degree of wobble, one side starts to
go
in first when fully opened. This is the concern of the OP. The wobble is
absolutely a no issue situation with absolutely no hint or fear of the
slides separating. There is no wobble at all if you push the drawer closed
from the center. You really have to try to make the drawer wobble.

Thanks for the great explanation. It makes a lot of sense, and now I
know why I didn't know what OP was talking about.

Well I think that Accuride may have been advising on the side of caution. I
think Op was lead to believe that the drawer end of the slide would seperate
form the carcus end of the slide if there was any racking. I have never
seen this come close to happening providing the slides are a decent quality
abd properly mounted.





Your hint?

Opening from the center. When I stopped to think of your post, I
realized that all the really wide drawers I had built that rode on
slides were in kitchens. That means all the drawers had center pulls!
AHA!

So when the wide kitchen drawers were loaded or unloaded, the opening
and closing motion was coming from exactly the center of the drawer,
thus no racking or wobble. That's why I hadn't seen that.

Our kitchen drawers that are 30" or so inches wide don't have drawer pulls,
they hide behind 2 lower cabinet doors. They can be pushed from just about
anywhere with out a problem. That still is a pretty wide drawer. Those
drawers were make out of 3/4" lumber core. the extra stiffness in the
drawer sides may contribute to no wobble plus those drawers with pots and
pans are no where near as loaded as my tool chest.


When my full extension slides would wobble or have excessive movement,
it was always because the drawer needed an adjustment tweak. After
that, the wobble went away.

What you said made perfect sense to me. Way to go Leon!

Robert