A drawer slide snapped on a big built-in I was installing yesterday

I was putting in a floor-to-ceiling unit for a client in their home office, everything was going smooth until I tried to close the bottom file drawer. Heard a loud crack and the whole thing dropped at an angle. It was a 100 pound full extension slide, the kind rated for heavy loads, but the mounting bracket sheared right off the cabinet side. Happened around 3 PM, right when I thought I was wrapping up for the day. I had to take the whole drawer box out, chisel out the old bracket pieces, and glue in a new plywood block to remount it. Took an extra two hours to fix and set me back. Has anyone else had a heavy-duty slide fail like that? Wondering if it was a bad batch or if I should be pre-drilling the screw holes bigger to avoid stress.

3 comments

3 Comments

john_singh2mo ago

Ever pre-drill with a bit slightly smaller than the screw? I started doing that on heavy slides to let the wood compress without splitting... seems to spread the load better and I haven't had one fail since.

adams.leo2mo ago

That pre-drill trick can actually weaken the wood's grip on the screw threads.

jason5242mo ago

Actually, a proper pilot hole lets the screw threads bite into solid wood instead of just crushing fibers, which gives a stronger hold in my experience.