The drawer slides are quite like that of the hinges that you see in the cabinets. These slides are used in different projects where you will need the telescopic motion. If you are planning to use these drawer slides for any of your projects, then one thing that first comes to the mind is – how much weight can drawer slides hold? You need to focus on the drawer slides that can hold the desired weight. There are different types of drawer slides available in the market. So, how can you find out the capacity of the drawer slides and which slide to buy? This article will help you to get all the essential answers that you are looking for regarding the drawer slide types and their capacity.

Load Capacity vs. Weight Capacity

When researching drawer slides, you may come across the term “load capacity.” It’s essential to understand the difference between load capacity and weight capacity. Load capacity refers to the weight that a drawer slide can hold when fully extended. On the other hand, weight capacity refers to the weight that a drawer slide can hold when closed and in a static position. Therefore, it’s crucial to consider both load capacity and weight capacity when choosing drawer slides for your project.

Different types of drawer slides

The drawer slides play a vital role when it comes to making a cabinet, drawer or anything that needs to move back and forth. But choosing the right drawer slides is not as easy as it may seem. You have to determine the ideal weight capacity of the drawer slides for ensuring that you are fitting the right one. Before you get into the details about how much of the weight these drawer slides can hold, you have to know about the types of slides available:

1.Roller Slides

One of the types of the drawer slides is the roller slides. This one comes with two main parts – the drawer member and the cabinet. Both of them have its own roller which is generally made up of plastic. The drawer member and the cabinet are attached to a moving component. The rollers will fit into the groove properly for proper mechanism.

Source: Furnica

2.Ball-bearing Slides

This is one of the best slides which use the ball-bearings instead of the rollers for allowing the telescopic motion. This slide also comes with a third component which can interfere with the two sets of the ball bearings. This component is called the intermediate member. The ball-bearing drawer slides can hold a lot of weight i.e. up to 500 lbs. of load.

Load rating of these drawer slides

While you are purchasing a drawer slide for the DIY project, you have to choose a perfect one that can carry the required load. Thus, you have to check the load rating of the drawer slides .e. the capacity of the load that the drawer slides are able to carry. The load rating is actually the maximum capacity of the slides that they can handle. If the load increases, it can result into the failure of these drawer slides. These values of load ratings actually depend on the different types of drawer slides. There are two types of load rating available for the drawer slides – heavy-duty sides and regular drawer slides.

Generally, the ball-bearing slides come with higher load ratings and can hold much more weight than the roller slides. Want to buy the best ball-bearing slides for your project? Then you can find one of the best ball-bearing drawer slides for your project. It offers 3 section slides that are mounted on the two sides. You can slide out the drawer in full extension for better access. You will get various options in sizes from 12 inches to 24 inches. So, you can choose which one you need according to your requirements.

But one thing that you have to keep in mind is that if your drawer slide has 400 lbs. capacity, that doesn’t mean that your design can hold it too. The amount of load that the drawer slides is able to carry will also cause a pressure on the mounting clasps as well as on the drawer slides. In case any of these parts fail to hold 400 lbs. then your whole design will fail to work. In order to avoid any kind of unexpected failure, you have to determine and calculate the load capacity that your entire project design can carry.

How to determine the drawer slides weight requirement?

One of the key aspects to consider while choosing one of the best drawer slides is the amount of weight that the slides can carry. But how can you determine what your requirement is? This depends on the mounting type of the drawer slides. There are mainly two options for mounting – side mounting and bottom mounting. Read on to know about all the mounting types and how you can determine the capacity:

• Side Mounting Drawer Slides

It is quite straight and simple when it comes to side mounting drawer slides like that of the typical cabinets. You have to calculate and determine the total weight each drawer slide will carry. So, if the weight requirement is 400 lbs. then this weight will be divided into two equal parts for each drawer slide on each side. So, both of the drawer slides will have to carry 200 lbs. of weight each.

• Bottom Mounting Drawer Slides

If you want the bottom mounting installation, then ball-bearing drawer slides are the best. This will have a direct impact on the load rating, but the ball-bearing drawer slides have the capacity to carry more weight or load because of the changing orientation. The compression force, in bottom mounting, is solely supported by the drawer slide’s structure. Hence, the drawer slides are also quite strong when it comes to vertical configuration in comparison to the horizontal configuration.

source: evaluatehardware

Conclusion

This is all about the different types of drawer slides and the total weight these drawer slides can hold. When you are making a project, you need to make sure that you are giving special attention to the load capacity and the capacity of your entire design. This will help you to identify the load rating. Make sure to buy the best drawer slides from the best companies to get the top-notch load rating and durability. To figure out the right load capacity, you need to do some basic calculations based on the load rating of the drawer slides, requirements of your design etc. Once you get the right calculation, you can buy the required drawer slides for your project.