Question about drawer slides

[LeeG]

I am in the process of building a metal frame which will be used to store some toolboxes and parts boxes in my shed. The basic plan so far is for something like this:

View media item 88250
I will be using 24" 100 pound full extension drawer slides, and I expect each slide out to hold at most 60 pounds. My question is, do I need to add a strip of metal to reinforce the slide that is mounted in the frame, or will it be rigid enough only being supported on the extreme ends? The slides will be mounted to the frame with machine screws into Rivnuts.

Lee

 

[Stuart in MN]

What you're building looks a lot like a computer server rack...

Many of them have solid sides, but others like the one in the picture above don't and they have the slides just attached at the ends. Having said that, if I was building it I think I would add some metal to hold the slides in between the rails. If nothing else it will help stiffen up the structure.

Alternately, you could see if you could find a used server rack somewhere, and then you'd be all set without having to fabricate anything.

 

[cgrutt]

I've seen some kitchen drawers only supported at front and back but would think load rating would be affected by not attaching the cabinet profile along sides. I would add a standoff down center of each side and attached the cabinet profiles at front back and center at minimum. Should also help reduce any side-to-side deflection when the drawers are sliding out.

 

[The Cobbler]

with full extension slides they will probably run fine without added support as they run inside each other if that makes sense . if you pull the drawers out straight it should be fine, if you **** them on the way out or while closing it might be an issue, but probably not

 

[Ray916MN]

Should work no problems, as long as the slides are spec'ed to carry the load. Most slides are made to be attached at the front and back and spec'ed to handle the rated load when attached this way. The attachment style is provided along with the dimensional and weight spec.

Using full extension slides, be careful to build in some sort of anti-tip safety.

 

[Muggzy]

I am in the process of building a metal frame which will be used to store some toolboxes and parts boxes in my shed. The basic plan so far is for something like this:

View media item 88250
I will be using 24" 100 pound full extension drawer slides, and I expect each slide out to hold at most 60 pounds. My question is, do I need to add a strip of metal to reinforce the slide that is mounted in the frame, or will it be rigid enough only being supported on the extreme ends? The slides will be mounted to the frame with machine screws into Rivnuts.

Lee

What 's the specs on the slides say? Also, you don't expect to put any more than 60lbs on a shelf and that's great until you do. [emoji57]

You can fit a lot of stuff on an 24x18 in shelf. I was kind of shocked when I started organizing my accumulated hardware into the HF compartment boxes and one of them now weighs in at about 30+ lbs

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[climb.on]

I think you'd be fine with a front and back attachment point. Put a back on that cabinet though. A back will add a lot of strength. You should also add a horizontal rail (or 2) across the front.

 

[toplessHO]

too bad youre so far away
got a rack I would like to get rid of

 

[tarbellb]

Front and rear screws only are standard, but use at least 4.

Are you planning on skinning that rack? If not, I would be concerned with racking. Both front to back and side to side, as the screws will not keep things tight.

Skinning the sides and back will substantially beef things up, or triangulate the all the corners if possible.

 

[Flail]

Attach it to the wall so that if it starts to tip forward causing all the drawers to open simultaneously it won’t crush you. For a few bucks more, get slides that self close when nearly closed. This will help prevent the first scenario.

 

[LeeG]

Thanks for the input guys. I will probably add a few diagonal braces to the sides and back, but the front will have to remain open as I am making it so I can adjust the drawer height to handle different toolbox sizes.

The frame will be 1"x3" 16 ga steel tubing welded, and I will have it anchored to the wall to prevent tipping. I hope to get it finished over thanksgiving weekend, so I'll post some photos when complete.

Lee

 

[Specracer]

Some great stuff from this company.
http://www.fultererusa.com/

 

[JJohns3WG]

You could run another vertical bar in the center of each side rather than cross bars at each slide. It would give you a third attachment point at any height. X2 on some diagonal support

 

[Firstram]

You could run another vertical bar in the center of each side rather than cross bars at each slide. It would give you a third attachment point at any height. X2 on some diagonal support

For sure! Only screwing the ends in a cabinet works because the body of the slide is held against the side of the box. A third vertical will stop the slides from twisting when fully extended.