How to Install Ball Bearing Drawer Slides

How To Install Ball Bearing Drawer Slides

Ball bearing drawer slides are a widely used component in industrial, commercial and domestic environments. From office cabinets, emergency service vehicles and industrial storage, ball bearing drawer slides have solidified their usefulness worldwide.

At Metrol, we are proud of the extensive range of Accuride drawer slides we supply for our client's needs. All Accuride slides we stock have undergone rigorous testing to ensure that each item is consistently high quality.

Choosing your Drawer Slide Specifications

At Metrol, we have a broad stock of drawer slides that can suit various applications, including Accuride drawer slides, two-way travel and more. With such a wide range of options available, you must know what to look for to choose the right drawer slides for your project.

Most of the Accuride drawer slides we supply are split into three types, light, medium and heavy duty drawer runners. All three of these have variable load ratings and other features so you can choose the perfect one for you.

The physical dimensions of your drawer slide can also be chosen, height and length must match your application's requirements, but you must also consider the extension length and thickness. The accessibility of your drawer will depend entirely on these two specifications. Allowing for a +0.2 – 0.5mm on top of the slide thickness will ensure your drawer slide operates smoothly. Additionally, you should ensure your extension and length are compatible with your drawer's specifications to be easily accessible.

Is Flat Mounting an Option?

Flat mounting refers to installing the slide on the bottom of a drawer. Ball-bearing drawer slides are generally not suited to flat mounting, having been designed to work rotated on their thin side, in pairs and attached to the sides of drawers or any moving unit. When these slides are mounted flat, it drastically decreases the load rating to a mere 25% of their designed load rating (on average). If your application is better suited to flat-mounted ball-bearing drawer slides, then we recommend our range of linear motion slides.

Ball Bearing Drawer Slide Terminology

Drawer slides contain several parts you should be aware of before attempting to install them into your desired location:

Inner member: Attaches to the outside of the drawer surface
Outer member: Attaches to the inner cabinet surface
Intermediate Member: Connects the two previous members
Ball Bearings: The ball retainer controls the ball bearings themselves. This allows the members to slide relative to each other to a ratio of 2:1.

Planning to Install your Drawer Slides

We recommend mounting them vertically in parallel pairs to get the most out of your new drawer slides. Additionally, we advise installing them between two and one-third from the bottom of the drawer itself, just above halfway. Choosing the best place to mount your drawer runners will also be affected by the depth of the drawer. A shallow drawer will have more flexibility in its slide placement, but such flexibility with deep drawers will lead to uneven weight distribution.

How to Install Ball Bearing Drawer Slide

The general principle for installing ball bearing drawer slides is similar across the different models we can supply, but for this example, we'll use the popular classic available on our online store, the Accuride DH3832.

Step 1: Find the three members of the slide and separate the inner one from the intermediate and outer one. This specific example's hold-in and front disconnect features should assist with this.

Step 2: Take the Outer and intermediate member assemblies and attach them to the inner surface of your cabinet with your appropriate tools. Remember to ensure that you install it parallel to the drawer, between two and one-thirds from the base.

Step 3: Next, install the inner members onto the outside of the drawer surface. You can attach it through the internal cam adjuster at the front and through a designated hole at the rear.

Step 4: Now, check to see if the intermediate member's ball retainers are fully forward, then install the drawer by sliding the inner member into the intermediate one. Doing this should temporarily close the drawer.

Step 5: Once closed, re-open the drawer and check to see if the cam needs rotating to a better fit concerning the cabinet itself. Finally, you can finish installing any additional screws that may be necessary.

Ball Bearing Drawer Slides for Industrial Use

Whilst the Accuride drawer slides we supply are highly effective, not every runner is best suited to every application. For example, the heavy duty drawer runners are available with an array of features, including two-way travel and soft close. Additionally, our thinnest light duty drawer runners have been used within computer server farms.

Premium Ball Bearing Drawer Slides from Metrol

If you would like to take advantage of our stock of Accuride’s superior quality products, Metrol is an authorised distributor for high-quality Accuride drawer slides, with many different specifications available online.

June 16, 2022 | View: 2693 | Categories: <a class="mp-info" href="https://motioncontrol.metrol.com/info/category/info.html">News</a>, <a class="mp-info" href="https://motioncontrol.metrol.com/info/category/accuride-slides.html">Accuride Slides</a> | By: <a class="mp-info" href="https://motioncontrol.metrol.com/info/author/accuride-slides-sales-team.html">Accuride Slides Sales Team</a> | Modify By: <a class="mp-info" href="https://motioncontrol.metrol.com/info/author/metrol-marketing-team.html">Metrol Marketing Team</a> at June 16, 2022