Side-Mount Soft-Close Ball Bearing Drawer Slides
Side-mounted soft-closing drawer slides have a spotty reputation. January 23, 2014
Question
I have been using some of the KV and Accuride soft close slides and keep having problems with them closing on their own. Are any of you using them and having the same problems? When I switch them out and use the standard slides I have no problems. What gives?
Forum Responses
(Cabinetmaking Forum)
From contributor H:
I've used a few side mount soft close - a few too many. I never saw one that's worked. The Hafele slide-out uses side mounts. I usually use Salice undermounts. The import undermounts are usually less expensive than the side mount soft close.
From contributor J:
I have used a 100 or so pairs of these in KV and import slides. I have given up on these and will never use them again. We have moved to all undermounts. Much easier to adjust and always closes.
From Contributor K:
We used them for our trash pullouts for years and they worked about half the time. We started building glorified drawers for our trash pullouts and use the
Blum undermounts we use everywhere else.
From Contributor S:
We have installed 100's of the Dynaslide version of the softclose and have had to replace one-two every other job. This is usually from somebody removing the drawer and not reinstalling correctly and bending the ball bearing mechanism. We have used
Blum undermounts in the pass and have now switched all slides to these - no failures and no callbacks. For commercial we use the Dynaslide with no soft close and it works well. For trash pullout we use the Rev-a-shelf unit with the undermount
Blum slide. Made the switch and have not looked back.
From the original questioner:
I am glad for forums like this because here is where you learn the truth about things. If you ask your supplier they will always tell you they haven't heard of any problems and that you must be doing something wrong because you are the only one experiencing problems. I have found that when talking to others usually everyone is finding the same thing. Thanks for your input.
From contributor E:
The KV 8450 works very nicely when installed correctly. It may be that some folks aren’t taking the time to adjust them to work smooth. I’ve been using them for years and not one callback.
From the original questioner:
I have checked sizes numerous times and that does not seem to be the problem. Some of them will close just fine while others will just stop and not self-close. Some you almost have to push in to get them to close. I just changed out a set the other day for a customer. I put the non-soft close slides in and they slid perfectly. I just think they haven't worked the bugs out yet.
