Double Drawer Slide to increase weight rating

[blbradford]

Not thinking this through completely I have underrated my drawer slide after the drawer and casing have been built. :BangHead: I am building a office credenza and bought a 10 pack of 22" drawer slides (100# rating) but should have thought ahead :BangHead: that ONE of the drawers needs to be weight rated much higher because it will hold paper (and plenty of it) as it is the file drawer. The drawer itself is big (22"x34") and heavy.

The side clearance is 1/2" so I cannot just go buy one of those 400# rated heavy duty drawer slides as they take more side clearance than I have. Because of the design, I cannot add the under mount (bottom side or center mount type) drawer slide. Right now I feel stuck to only one option that I am not sure it will work, unless you have some ideas??

If I double up the drawer slide (two per each side) on a 100# rated slide you would think that this would double the weight rating. Although the whole "matched alignment" will be critical for ease of drawer operation I am wondering if this will work.

Do you have experience with double drawer slides or do you have another idea?

Thanks for any comment you may have

 

[Raymond]

Bruce, what about adding under-drawer support strips with UHMW strips on them. Something like this might give you the support you need and provide for a smooth riding surface.

https://www.grainger.com/product/GRAINGER-APPROVED-C-Channel-2NJE5?s_pp=false&picUrl=//static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/2NJE5_AS01?$smthumb$

 

[ehpoole]

Could you not route recesses along the length of the drawer sides to permit the added depth required for the heavier slides? I know that I have certainly handled such geometry mistakes through the clever use of largely hidden recesses to accept whatever added hardware I had initially failed to account for. The primary art of woodworking lies in the creative application of clever solutions to hide or address ones initial design mistakes so that only the builder ever knows the mistake was made!

You will never get a doubling of capacity by simply doubling slides simply because no matter how careful you try to be in aligning each pair of slides relative to one another they are unlikely to even come close to evenly sharing the load between them because even the smallest of misalignments means one slide is going to bear the overwhelming majority of the weight. maybe with extremely careful alignment (and I mean very careful alignment) you might add 10 or 20%, 30% if the sun and moon are also in proper alignment, maybe, but I think you will find anywhere near double to be unachievable. Your best bet is to make whatever accommodations are required to accept heavier slides or find another way to handle the load entirely.

Anyhow, just my $0.02.

 

[ehpoole]

Bruce, what about adding under-drawer support strips with UHMW strips on them. Something like this might give you the support you need and provide for a smooth riding surface.

https://www.grainger.com/product/GRAINGER-APPROVED-C-Channel-2NJE5?s_pp=false&picUrl=//static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/2NJE5_AS01?$smthumb$

Ray, I may not be quite following your intent, but if I am I do not see how this would help. While the UHMW is slick and would support the weight while sliding the drawer back into its cabinet, the existing slides are left to bear most, if not all, of the weight the moment the drawer is fully extended, at which point the slides will presumably be grossly overloaded if the OP's weight calculations are correct. The maximum weight rating is primarily limited by the slides when they are at full extension and forming a cantilevered beam, they are at their strongest when a drawer is closed, the weakest when fully extended.

If I am missing something please feel free to correct and elaborate as such may help the OP out as well.

 

[JohnnyR]

I agree with Ethan. If the drawer fronts have a lip you could also rout the cabinet. If the drawer sides are to thin, you could also scarf another piece to beef it up from the inside. Solving these dilemmas often gives me more satisfaction of the finished projects. Wish I could learn from my mistakes!

 

[Endless Pursuit]

Are you going to really have 200 Lbs in a drawer? A 500 sheet ream of paper weighs 5 Lb.

I have file drawers jammed full of paper in manilla hanging folders and I can lift one. Maybe 80 Lbs including the drawer.

 

[ehpoole]

Are you going to really have 200 Lbs in a drawer? A 500 sheet ream of paper weighs 5 Lb.

I have file drawers jammed full of paper in manilla hanging folders and I can lift one. Maybe 80 Lbs including the drawer.

His present slides are rated for 100 lbs. for the set, so a 100 lb. drawer maximum (rather than 200 lbs.). How much weight will depend upon how much it is filled, but a 22"34" drawer could potentially hold 8 reams per layer (2x4), so if it were roughly 4" deep that would be up to 16 reams or roughly 80 lbs. plus the weight of the drawer itself, so just two layers deep and one is at the maximum weight for the 100 lb. slides. If it is even deeper then the weight could go much higher, especially if one stores a large supply of paper or a collection of specialty papers and labels. I know in my own family we have entire shelves of paper, both refill paper as well as many specialty papers and labels, both laser and inkjet -- so it is certainly possible to heavily load such a drawer.

However, if such a larger drawer is fully loaded and fully extended one will need to ensure that the cabinet has enough mass to avoid tipping over as the drawer is extended, and that can become a limiting factor on maximum capacity with large and heavy drawers. Such should also be the very bottom drawer for both balance and safety.

 

[Skymaster]

Hopefully this is a bottom drawer, do you have the abiliy to have space under this drawer or can you raise it about 1/2 inch ? If so, presuming you are using accuride or similar slides. run flush stringers under drawer, run a pair of slides FLAT front to rear, they mount to bottom of drawer,sides mount same, this make drawer supported on the bottom and sides. that should resolve your concerns

 

[Rwe2156]

We buy reams of paper (10X500sheets) for the office a box weighs about 60#.

So just how big is this file drawer?

 

[blbradford]

Hi DrBob- The drawer itself is big (22"x34") and heavy.

 

[Fishbucket]

I would double it up. In a heartbeat.
I've done it and it lasted. Commercial office trash/ recycling bins made of particle board with SF hipsters smashing trash in there with their feet.
It will carry some of the load. Those glides are not machined with babbitt. They are loose ball bearings.