Lontan Soft Close Drawer Slides
Smooth, Easy Open Ball Bearing Slides
TOP PICK: LONTAN SLIDES
If you make any furniture, desk, cabinet, or built-in, chances are high that you’ll use ball-bearing drawer slides.
And by understanding these slides, you can take your projects to the next level.
For example, did you know you can make cabinets or furniture without hardware using a push-to-open drawer slide?
In this article, we’ll cover all types of slides, including:
- Soft closing drawer slides for new and retrofit projects
- Heavy-duty slides for workbenches and storage
- Top mount drawer slides to make DIY keyboard trays
- Self-closing drawer slides for economic drawer projects
- And even bi-directional slides that can open from two sides of a cabinet
So, keep reading to learn a few new facts, trips, and tricks on this surprisingly adaptable drawer slide.
Page Contents
What is a Ball Bearing Drawer Slide?
While there are dozens of drawer slides, the ball-bearing drawer slide is the most popular. A ball-bearing slide represents a wide variety of slides. For example, ball bearing design allows for weight ranges of drawers to range from 50 pounds to over 1,000 pounds with opening lengths up to 96″.
Who Makes Them: Manufacturers
First, drawer slides have been around for thousands of years. They date to early furniture, where slides were made from wood components powered by wax to reduce friction.
But, over the last 100 years, technology has advanced, and ball bearing slides have become a go-to slide for several large manufacturers:
- Accuride is arguably the largest producer of ball-bearing slides, with the broadest range of slides
- Knape & Vogt
- Vadania
- Liberty
Soft Close Ball Bearing Drawer Slides
Overview
Technology and consumer demand for soft closing have driven a massive investment in side mount smooth closing ball bearing slides in the last ten years.
And as a result, most manufacturers and DIY’ers have switched to a soft close drawer slide as it has become economical in price and durable in use.
Key Features
- Damper: to stop the drawer from slamming shut a hydraulic damper will catch the drawer and prevent it from slamming shut.
- Springs: springs will gently pull the drawer closed after the damper “catches” the drawer.
- Disconnect lever: allows the drawer to be removed.
- Rail cushions: the best slides have cushions to prevent the rails from “clinking” as they shut.
- Full extension: almost all soft closing slides are full extension and open the entire drawer length.
- Capacity: maximum weight load is 100 pounds
Popular Uses
New DIY Drawers: While most manufacturers will use an undermount slide (they are more durable), side mount slides are DIY friendly as they sport a standard 1/2″ side clearance and are easy to measure for and install.
Retrofit / Upgrade: Millions of kitchens use roller drawer slides with a 1/2″ side clearance. Almost all standard duty ball bearing slides are a 1/2″ clearance as well – which makes soft close ball bearing slides great replacement options.
Self Closing Ball Bearing Drawer Slides
Overview
This isn’t an obvious distinction, so let’s define soft closing vs. self-closing as confusing.
- Soft closing is a drawer slide that automatically ” pulls” a drawer shut and holds it there.
- Meanwhile, self-closing is a drawer slide that will hold a drawer shut.
So what keeps a self-closing drawer slide shut? A large rubber block at the back of the drawer slide acts as a friction stopper.
Will a self-closing slide stay locked shut? No, unfortunately, but a locking ball-bearing slide we’ll cover soon will.
Key Features
- Disconnect lever: allows the drawer to be removed.
- Rail cushions: prevent the rails from “clinking” as they shut.
- Full extension: Most slides are full extensions depending on weight capacity and brand.
- Over-travel: some self-closing will extend “past” the opening of the cabinet
- Capacity: maximum weight load is typically defined up to 100 pounds.
Popular Uses
With both a defined market share in business and popularity with DIY’ers, self-closing ball bearing slides are prevalent for:
Industrial furniture: from medical carts that need drawers to stay closed to high-volume office furniture where soft closing is an “extra.”
Furniture: with a more straightforward design, less strict installation tolerances, and a lower price, closing slides are popular in manufactured and custom furniture.
Heavy Duty Ball Bearing Slides
Overview
Heavy-duty ball-bearing slides are the best (and only) drawer slide for moving heavy drawers.
But first, how do you define the weight capacity of a slide? While there isn’t an industry standard, you’ll generally find slides rated as follows:
- Light duty is up to 50-pound capacity
- Medium duty ranges from 50 to 100 pounds
- Heavy-duty slides range from 100 to 500 pounds
- And Ultra-duty slides range from 500 pounds and more.
So what else is unique with heavy-duty ball-bearing slides?
Length as these slides come in a variety of sizes.
These slides range from 96″ in length and are commonly used at 36-72″.
Key Features
- Bearings: heavy-duty ball bearings
- Disconnect lever: optional; most slides are fixed and do not disconnect
- Length: 12″ to 96″
- Full extension: almost all come as full extension
- Locking: a few brands offer locking capacity to keep the drawer mechanically shut or open
- Capacity: 100 to 1000 pounds
Popular Uses
So what do you do with a 500-pound ball-bearing drawer slide that is 72″ long? Or any drawer slide that is 250 pounds in capacity?
Industrial slide-out shelves: from factories to home workshops, a heavy-duty slide can hold massive weight and slide back and forth for access.
Truck bed slide-outs: if you’ve seen drawers mounted in the back of pickups, they almost always use heavy-duty, 60″ drawer slides with locks
RV drawers: similar to truck bed uses, most RV’s will use a heavy-duty slide to move sinks, stoves, and refrigerators.
You can learn more in our guide to heavy-duty drawer slides.
Low Profile Ball Bearing Drawer SLides
Overview
Want to know one thing that is often overlooked in ball-bearing slides?
Height of the drawer slide.
Since ball bearing slides mount to the side of the drawer, they are visible. So, to minimize their visual impact, you’ll need to reduce the slide’s height.
However, low-profile drawer slides have a few downsides:
- Reduce weight capacity with a thinner vertical design
- Are often restricted to three-quarter extension (e.g. don’t open all the way)
Key Features
- Disconnect lever: optional; most slides are fixed and do not disconnect
- Length: 10″ to 24″
- Full extension: most low profile drawer slides are 3/4-extension (meaning, they open 75% of the way)
- Capacity: Typically limited to a maximum of 60 pounds
Popular Uses
Pencil drawers: As pencil drawers in desks often have a 2-1/2″ side height, a standard ball-bearing slide with a 1-3/4″ size will dominate the drawer side.
Top Mount Ball Bearing Drawer Slides
Overview
The top mount drawer slide is one of the most overlooked types of ball-bearing drawer slides.
Similar in design to a side mount drawer slide, a top mount slide changes the mounting location from the side of the cabinet or furniture opening to the top of the door.
Key Features
- Height Adjustment: To adjust the height of the shelf or drawer it supports, a top mount slide will have brackets allowing installation choice.
- Length: 10″ to 24″
- Full extension: optional; most slides are 3/4 extension, but the full extension is available.
- Capacity: Typically limited to a maximum of 50 pounds
Popular Uses
Keyboard trays: For new desks and DIY keyboard tray additions, a top mount slide will easily fit on the underside of most desks and install easily.
Push to Open Ball Bearing Drawer Slides
Overview
For furniture and cabinets where handles aren’t part of the design, the best drawer slide for the job is a push-to-open drawer slide.
This ball-bearing slide incorporates a spring mechanism opposite of a soft close: instead of pulling the drawer shut, it powers a tool to push it open.
As you can guess, these slides require the user to push the drawer front to trigger it to open, so they are best only on frameless cabinets.
Key Features
- Push activated: featuring springs to push the drawer and “pop” open.
- Length: 12″ to 24″
- Full extension: these slides are typically full extension.
- Capacity: 50-100 pounds depending on manufacturer
Popular Uses
Modern kitchens: when drawer pulls, or knobs aren’t desired, a push-to-open drawer slide allows frameless cabinets to hide the hardware.
How to Measure Ball Bearing Drawer Slides
If choosing side mount drawer slides wasn’t hard enough, you’ll also need to learn how to measure drawer slides to ensure your drawer will fit the cabinet.
But fortunately, there are a few simple tricks to measuring ball-bearing slides. And it’s all about the cabinet’s construction and the opening’s depth.
Measuring Side Mount Drawer Slides on Face Frame Cabinets
On a face frame, you will measure the depth of the cabinet from the face of the frame to the back of the cabinet. Then, subtract 1/2″, and you will have your maximum drawer length.
For example:
- Most kitchen cabinets are 24″ from the wall to the front of the face frame.
- Which makes the face frame to the back of the cabinet interior 23″ (1/4″ back, 3/4″ strip to attach drawer brackets).
- So, a 23″ measurement will yield you the popular 22″ side mount drawer slide length.
Measuring for Frameless Cabinets
While face frame cabinets include a 3/4″ addition to the front, for frameless cabinets, you’ll have two options based on your cabinet construction:
- Frameless inset: For this style of drawer, you’ll be deducting the thickness of the drawer front instead. So, similar to face frame cabinets, measure the depth of the cabinet, remove the drawer front, and you’ll have your most extended length.
- Frameless overlay: If your drawer fronts cover a portion of the face of the cabinet side (e.g., overlay), then measure the available depth of the cabinet to the edge of the cabinet frame side. Then round down to the next open-size drawer.
However, with both inset and overlay construction, there’s no need for rear mounting brackets, as frameless cabinet side mount slides will attach directly to the cabinet wall.
How to Fix Drawer Slides
Fixing ball-bearing drawer slides is a unique challenge as they are a “contained” system that does not want to come apart.
But, if your drawer slide fell apart or is missing a bearing, you can attempt to fix these slides before deciding to replace them.
Steps you can take to fix ball-bearing drawer slides:
- Remove the rear locking bumper
- Straighten the metal piece found at the back
- Remove the slide mechanism, and adjust the ball bearings (replacing them if they fell out)
- Carefully re-assemble
Do you know if this is guaranteed to work? Unfortunately, this style of drawer slide is not designed to be repaired.
Tools to Install Ball Bearing Drawer Slides
First up: ball-bearing drawer slides require a precise installation.
And cabinets and drawers aren’t always perfect, so you’ll need all the help you can get. This is why having the following tools on hand will help your installation go as smoothly as possible:
- Drawer slide jigs and a face clamp are a must-have to install slides
- Cordless drill and driver
- #8 drawer screws
- Rear mount drawer brackets (on face frame cabinets)
Frequently Asked Questions
What are ball bearing drawer slides?
Ball bearing drawer slides are a type of drawer slide built on interlocked rails that move on ball bearings to reduce friction. Most ball-bearing drawer slides have three rails that operate together in opening and closing the drawer. Key advantages to ball-bearing drawer slides are their ability to open fully, have the most weight capacity of any slide, and can be the most inexpensive drawer slide.
How much weight can a ball bearing drawer slide hold?
While most drawer slides have a maximum weight of 100 pounds, a ball-bearing slide will reach a maximum weight capacity of 1,000 pounds or more. Due to their all-steel construction and ball bearings to offset friction, these slides are designed for weight.
What alternatives are their to ball bearing drawer slides?
The most common alternative to a ball-bearing drawer slide is an undermount drawer slide. While undermount drawer slides operate on a similar steel design, they offer the advantage of being hidden once installed. They are generally considered a higher quality soft close drawer slide due to their roller bearing design.
Summary
When choosing ball-bearing drawer slides, it’s important to understand there are many (many) variations of this style of the slide. While slides are made for every budget, remember that a generic drawer slide is only sometimes the best buy if you’ll be using the slide for decades.
- About the Author
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Eric has been a professional woodworker for over thirty years and has worked in small cabinet shops making everything from kitchen cabinets to hand-made furniture. Now working from a home woodworking shop Eric is sharing his passion for woodworking, tool advice and how-to knowledge from his Minnesota-based woodshop.
