High-quality hardware is a prerequisite for the manufacture of high-quality cabinet furniture. The strength, durability and comfort level of kitchens, chests of drawers, slides, cabinets and wardrobes depend on the technical characteristics of components.
There are several types of retractable systems that differ in complexity of design, cost and ease of use:
- roller guides;
- ball guides;
- metaboxes;
- tandems;
- tandemboxes;
- lightboxes.
Usually installing drawer rails is a straightforward scheme that even a layman can handle. Installing guides for drawers with your own hands will require a careful study of the instructions, a little time and skills for working with a screwdriver.
Drawer guides
These guides are commonly used for the manufacture of furniture in mass production. They are made of steel, epoxy paint is applied on top of white, gray, black or brown. The length of the guides can be different: from 250 mm to 600 mm in increments of 50 mm. It is specially selected for the size of the boxes.
The weight that the roller guides hold in motion is not more than 15 kg. Significant disadvantages of this type of guides are their noise when moving, fragility and incomplete rolling out of boxes.
The installation of roller guides for drawers requires an accurate calculation. If the calculation is incorrect, the life of the rollers is significantly reduced, and problems with the movement of the boxes are also likely to occur early.
Drawer ball guides
Made of stamped steel with anodized coating. Their design is fundamentally different from roller guides. To slip the box on the runners, a holder with metal balls filled with viscous grease is used. This gives a relatively quiet operation and increases the service life. There are models equipped with built-in closers that prevent the drawer from making a noisy hit on the cabinet post during sudden slamming. The system has two metal elements: one is attached to the inner wall of the product, and the other to the box. To separate these two parts, you need to use a latch.
Ball guides are full or partial rolling. Full extension guides (or telescopic) allow you to pull the box out of the furniture cabinet, which maximizes the visibility of the interior. Partial extension guides leave an area of about 50 mm from the rear end of the box. The length of the guides is from 200 to 600 mm in increments of 50 mm. The maximum load of rails with a height of 35 mm is 30 kg. There are also reinforced guides, their height is 45 mm, and the maximum load is up to 45 kg.
Metaboxes
This is a type of roller guide. The steel runners of these rails are enlarged to the height of the box and completely replace its wooden side walls. Hence the name - metaboxes or metal boxes. The rollers are attached to the sidewalls. The height of the side walls is from 54 mm to 150 mm. You can increase the height with special rails. The bottom of the metabox is made of chipboard, limiting the filling weighing up to 20 kg. The shorter the box, the greater the load.
In the fastening of the facade to the metabox, vertical and horizontal adjustment is provided, which allows you to precisely align it with the body. Most often, metaboxes are used in the manufacture of serial kitchens of a budget category.
Tandems
Tandems - guides for flush mounting. There are two types: full and partial extension. The box on such guides is mounted on top, completely hiding them under the sidewalls and the bottom.
Soft sliding (even with a load of up to 50 kg) is ensured by the principle of a bearing: a block of steel balls located on four sides of runners (quad system), or cylinders - needles. The mount allows you to adjust the position of the box relative to the housing and remove the box from the rails without tools. Tandems are available in several versions:
- with closer - normal opening by the handle and smooth closing;
- with tip on or push to open mechanism - opens by touching the facade;
- with electromechanical opening.
Tandemboxes
Tandembox - a box consisting of metal sidewalls with double walls, the bottom is usually made of chipboard, the back wall is made of metal or chipboard and flush mounting rails. These are the same tandems equipped with double side walls. It is possible to additionally increase the height of the box with rails and a special profile. Some manufacturers make extensions of glass strips.
For the organization of the internal space of the box additional options are provided: mobile dividers, containers and stands for cutlery and jars for spices.
Boxes legraboks
The most modern and expensive guide systems for drawers, occupying a high position in the list of all furniture components. The reinforced structure stably withstands loads up to 60 kg. The brushed stainless steel surface emphasizes the rigor and sophistication of the stylish lightbox design.
Installation of this type of system involves jewelry precision drilling of facades and side walls, absolutely verified calculations in the manufacture of parts from chipboard. It is also imperative that the bottom be milled correctly and accurately.
Manufacturers of furniture fittings offer other ways to use rails. For example, fastening drawers, nets, containers for various purposes.
General guidelines for installing drawer rails
How to install everything correctly? Calculation of parts when installing rails for drawers can be done according to the formulas that manufacturers provide for their products. Usually, all the necessary information is also contained in the instructions.
The key to the successful installation of drawer guides is accurate marking. All guides must be installed at the same level and strictly parallel to each other. It is most convenient to do the marking before assembling the product on a flat horizontal surface in sufficient light.
There are two ways to install the facade of the drawer: external and internal. With the external installation method, the facade closes with the end face of the housing. Then the guide must be fastened close to the outer end of the product rack. In the internal method, the end face of the product stand is in the same plane with the facade. When fastening, the guide must be moved inward from the visible end to the thickness of the facade.
Installation Guide for Roller Guides for Drawers
Now let's talk about installing roller guides. When installing roller guides for drawers, the kit must be divided into right and left sides, and then into internal and external parts. The left outer part has a U-shaped profile, the right outer one is G-shaped, the inner one is L-shaped.
On all parts of the rails there are holes for fixing and adjusting them on the parts using self-tapping screws. According to the marking lines on the racks of the body of the product, the corresponding parts of the guides are screwed. It is necessary to make sure that the rollers on them are closer to the front end of the part. L-shaped guiding parts are attached to the already assembled box. In this case, the rollers should be located at the rear end of the box.
The product is assembled, boxes are inserted, facades and handles are hung. Installation is complete.
Ball Guide Installation Instructions
When installing ball guides for drawers, you need to separate the inside of the guide from the outside. To do this, find the plastic tab on the inside of the guide and pull out the narrow part.
According to preliminary marking, it is necessary to screw the outer part of the guide to the rack, and the inner one to the side wall of the box. Assemble the product, insert boxes, hang the facades. The installation of telescopic rails for drawers is complete.
What about drawers with closers? Installation of rails for drawers with a closer is carried out similarly. Everything is quite simple here. The installation of Boyard ball guides for drawers or systems of other manufacturers is carried out in the same way.