"Soft-Close" Drawer Slides
Soft-close drawer slides are bothered by dust, and require careful installation. May 22, 2006
Question
Has anyone had any experience with the new KV Eclipse under mount, soft close drawer slide? I want to try them because of the sales reps explanation of there features. I have used the Blumotion with great success and don't want to ruin anything. Any input is helpful.
Forum Responses
(Cabinetmaking Forum)
From contributor A:
Eclipse is made by Accuride. We're using them on the next project. My initial reaction is that they're no better or worse than the Blum in quality. They appear to have better drawer front adjustment. The soft close mechanism is very large limiting the size of drawer. Blum has now integrated this feature into the body of the slide. Accuride claims they won't do this due to contamination from granite dust, etc.
From contributor B:
I have been using tandems as well for several years and the granite dust and sawdust issue is a real one. Mepla has a tandem copy with the self-close mechanism covered, although I have not tried them yet. There was a company that made snap-on plastic covers for the side mounted Accuride-type slides - that was great for spray finishing and dust collection. A similar item would be great for the tandems. I am often frustrated by granite installers who have little concern for fine lacquer finishes or cabinet interiors as they happily grind away openings for cooktops and sinks without protecting the cabinets. It’s like when your haircut is almost finished and the barber removes the paper from your neck and then trims the small hairs which fall down your shirt and make you itch like crazy.
From contributor C:
I got a sample from Accuride and put it on a drawer in my kitchen to test it out and was unimpressed. It goes out of adjustment easily, inconsistent closure, noisy and has a sloppy feel. I'm going to try the Blum. I've never installed them but seen them on other cabinets and was impressed by their performance.
From contributor A:
Undermount drawer slides require that the drawer be carefully engineered to fit the specs of the slide. In the case of the Eclipse, the drawer width and depth would not be compatible with any other brand of slide. How is it you were able to put it on one of your existing kitchen drawers? I wonder if the statement that it “goes out of adjustment easily, inconsistent closure, noisy and has a sloppy feel" might be the result of a drawer that's not properly fitted. I found that the slides perform quite well, equal to that of the Blum.
From contributor C:
I built a new box for the undermount. Usually I use Accuride side-mount.
From contributor A:
To contributor C: Thanks for explaining.
From contributor D:
I have been using Blum tandem with softclose now for about 1 yr. The dust is a problem - even saw dust. It does not seem to affect the soft close but gets into the bearings easily. I like the Accurides being in 2" increments but I don’t like the huge softclose and the racheting drw front adjustment. If you do flush inset, there’s nothing to keep someone from pushing the front in too far. The clients go ape over these things so I keep using them.
The comments below were added after this Forum discussion was archived as a Knowledge Base article (add your comment).
Comment from contributor M:
I have used the Blum in the past and the dust is a real problem. I was at IWF 2006 to look for a new alternative to the Blum. There was a company there called US Futaba that was selling a Blum drop in that was a ball bearing under-mount slide. They said it had self cleaning ball bearing raceways and was rated at 100 lbs. The soft close was fully covered. It was a very nice slide and the cost was considerably less than Blum. They also had a ball bearing side mount slide like a KV 8400 with a soft close mechanism in the slide. It worked just like the under-mount slide. I really liked this slide because my customers just want a soft closing slide and don't care if it’s an under-mount. And the best part is you don't need to change the way your drawer is made, the slides work on a 1/2" side clearance.
