Ball Bearing Slides for Drawers Application Analysis

The term slide, in fact, designate two parts of the same object:

• The slide is the part fixed to the walls of the furniture, it remains fixed.

• The slide is the movable part fixed to the drawer; it slides in the slide thanks to the rollers or the balls (which are fixed on the slide).

What is the purpose of a drawer slide?

Before the drawer slides, the drawers were sliding on wooden slides that are still found in the dressers. One had to think of soaping the slides from time to time to ensure a smooth slide, and the wood tended to wear over the years.

The drawer cabinets are now equipped with modern roller or ball guides.

Roller slide

The roller guides plastic often equip office drawer slides; they are simple and economical.

Ball slide

The ball bearing slides are more modern; the movement is more flexible and better directed; they are often improved by a slide damper, an automatic closing or a "push to open" or "lose touch" system for drawers without handle.

How to measure a drawer slide

• The length of the slide:

The length of the slide is also the depth of the drawer.

This is the length SL given by the manufacturer. Beside the length SL, the slide is also given for a "minimum depth of caisson" generally greater than a few millimeters.

The front of the drawer is never taken into account in the measurement of a slide. Whether it is 10 or 40mm thick does not affect the choice of the slide.

The usual lengths of slide are 35 to 60cm. We offer slides of 20cm long for small dresser drawers up to 150cm long for very deep drawers (car / workshop layout).

• The length of the slide stroke: TR

This is the length of movement made by the slide.

When the slide has a TR stroke less than the length of the slider SL:

We have a partial exit, or exit 75%.

When TR is equal to SL:

We have a full output slider, or output 100%.

When TR is greater than SL:

We have a slide with overflowing output, also called "over-stroke"

Or output more than total, at 105-110%.

• Durability: the ball slide is stronger than the roller slide

The ball runners (made of steel) are stronger than the roller slides (nylon) which they replace progressively. For office drawers without heavy load, the roller shutter remains a usual and economical choice.

Ball slides are tested at 80 or 100,000 cycles. By opening the drawer 5 times a day, it's been 43 years of use!

The interlocking slides are housed under the drawer, and thus remain protected from projections and dust, making it a model of choice for the kitchen.

• The width of the sliding drawer

The width of the drawer has little influence on the choice of the slide, since we will take the same slide for a drawer of 30 cm or 60cm wide.

However, it is recommended not to take a slide of length much less than the width of the drawer, for example a slide of 40cm for a drawer of 90cm wide. In this case, you will be careful to choose an oversized slide in load (for example a 60kg instead of a 30kg) because the forces imposed on the slide will be higher.

As long as the width of the drawer is relatively close to its depth (and therefore the length of the slide), it does not matter in the choice of the slide.