Drawer Slide Installation Tips: Avoid these mistakes!

Entlich!! Eine Deutsche Holzarbeiter! Danke für die Tipps!

I have built hundreds! of drawers. Absolute key is all measurements in mm ! Cabinet hardware is manufactured in metric sizes. Sorry US folks. The ah ha moment for me was a large set of drawers (36" wide) that was full of heavy dishes. It just wouldn't close perfectly (soft close slides). Slide manufacturer Rep stopped by to assist and measured the opening and checked the drawer was square - yes. Then he said, "Did you measure the opening & build the drawers in mm??" Nope. "Well that's the problem. Imperial to metric doesn't translate exactly, compounded.....You can easily be off 1/16+. Just enough for a headache with heavy drawers." From that moment on, I measure the cabinet opening and build the drawers from mm measurements. Perfect every time. Yes. when in doubt, make the drawer smaller and add shim. To further help, make a quick spread sheet that allows you to change drawer opening & slide parameters and calculates the drawer sizes for you. This really helps with math errors which is easy to do with multiple drawers being constructed at one time.

FINALLY! Someone confirmed what those bendable tabs are on the side of the drawer slides! Why isn't this info more available?

get to it, too many toobers talk too much

Thanks brother for sharing this error. God bless.

I’m just about to start. Exellent video. I would have made all three mistakes probably. Better than watching a slick video where no problems are encountered or difficulty emphasised.

Lol! The exact problems this guy is talking about is exactly what is happening to me now. I wish I had watched this video earlier.

Ty for this

👍

Accuracy is key! Strive for cuts that are LESS than 1/32” off. Otherwise your tolerances can stack up and nothing will be right. I just finished my 1st major wood project, a 6 drawer dresser with built in bookshelf. My drawer slides are within 1/64th inch and diagonal are within 1/16th of being square. I made the drawers 1/16th smaller than the required 1" gap and the slides work perfectly. When I installed the outer slides to the carcass I measured from the bottom rather than from the previous slide, that takes away stacking tolerances. Everything fits perfectly! Only errors were in a few places the birch top veneer has peeled during the cutting operations.

Great video. Nice info. Thanks.

Conversely if your drawers are too wide you can easily plane or sand them to fit.

AFter just installing about 16 drawers with glides just likes these, I totally agree with you! I wish I had watched your video before ordering the new drawer boxes because I too found that providing a cabinet that is slighter larger than just 1" than the drawer box is much better. I had to widen the vertical face frames on about 6 of my drawers by planing the vertical styles. ugh!

Hello Sir
I struggle to make the drawer perfectly square..
The 1 or 2 degrees variance causes troubles for the drawer to slide easily
Im using plywood with dowel joins instead of screws
Once a insert the dowels, the drawer becomes slightly offsquare..
Any advise
Appreciated your video

EXCELLENT explanation! Thank you. I just have a quick question that will show how little experience I have with this. I need to replace the slides in my oak desk. The glide instructions say that you need to make sure the glides are level. I live in an old house, so the whole desk itself is not level. If I don't level the desk first, will everything else be messed up?

Thanks for this video, especially for the content about this subject .

Hallo ihr englisch ist wirklich sehr gut danke für ihre Tipps :D

Ｐ𝐫Ｏ𝕞Ｏ𝓢ｍ

Thanks for your tips..
Want to know if it's required to use specific scre holes on the slides? I've been struggling with my installation, drawers don't fully close have to push for a full close

Thanks for the helpful advice. I just finished a project where these tips would be perfect.

Thanks Andreas, those tips are so useful, I'm about to make some drawers for my new Workbench in a couple of weeks time.
Another great video as usual 😁

Another top notch video. As always full of useful info without any padding. Looking forward to the next one. Thanks for posting!

Great video! I’ve already made all these mistakes. Especially making the drawers slightly too wide. I fixed it by running my track saw along the sides of the drawer to create the space there. Wasn’t pretty either but didn’t have to chisel the cabinet frame. Only works if you glued the drawer box of course. If there is already metal fasteners then that won’t work.