I have some coarse thread #8x5/8 screws I was planning to use to fasten the drawer slides in my new melamine cabinets. After working with the melamine for a while, I have become concerned that the material won't support the weight. I don't think there will ever be more than 40 - 50 lbs in the drawers but I watch the stuff crumble in my hand and I get concerned.
Are these going to be sufficient or will a different fastener be required?
To those who encouraged me to use the confirmat screws with the melamine: Thanks! They made a very solid connection. The investment in the step drill bit and the screws was well worth it.
Well you have the right kind of screws, now you have to accept the fact that you are basically building "furniture in a box" style furniture or cabinets. They are relative cheap when you buy the kits from the store and you don't expect them to last if you load them down or use them often. If you want them to hold up you need to do more planning and consider adding stronger solid wood supports in the areas that will receive the most strain.
I have some coarse thread #8x5/8 screws I was planning to use to fasten the drawer slides in my new melamine cabinets. After working with the melamine for a while, I have become concerned that the material won't support the weight. I don't think there will ever be more than 40 - 50 lbs in the drawers but I watch the stuff crumble in my hand and I get concerned.
Are these going to be sufficient or will a different fastener be required?
To those who encouraged me to use the confirmat screws with the melamine: Thanks! They made a very solid connection. The investment in the step drill bit and the screws was well worth it.
I have some coarse thread #8x5/8 screws I was planning to use to fasten the drawer slides in my new melamine cabinets. After working with the melamine for a while, I have become concerned that the material won't support the weight. I don't think there will ever be more than 40 - 50 lbs in the drawers but I watch the stuff crumble in my hand and I get concerned.
Are these going to be sufficient or will a different fastener be required?
To those who encouraged me to use the confirmat screws with the melamine: Thanks! They made a very solid connection. The investment in the step drill bit and the screws was well worth it.
Doesn't your cordless have a clutch? I use cordless all of the time for fastening with no problems. Start off on a low torque clutch setting and work your way up to the right setting.
To the OP: The screws you have are fine. The slides always have more holes than you need. If you're nervous, use more screws. More screws towards the front of the slide is preferable.
My experience with melamine seems to bear out that the product does not do well with regular screws and lots of weight.
What I have done for drawers: I glued a thin (1/4 in or 3/8 in) slat of wood (poplar or oak) to the melamine with Roo Glue (which sticks VERY well to melamine), and then installed the drawer slides with 5/8 McFeely's screws. The slats allowed me enough clearance to have the drawers clear the hinges of the doors I installed (with Euro style hinges) to "hide" the drawers. I do not have 100lbs in each drawer, but they carry about 50 lbs each, and are opened several times daily, and none of them has had a problem since the cabinet was built about two years ago.
My experience with melamine seems to bear out that the product does not do well with regular screws and lots of weight.
What I have done for drawers: I glued a thin (1/4 in or 3/8 in) slat of wood (poplar or oak) to the melamine with Roo Glue (which sticks VERY well to melamine), and then installed the drawer slides with 5/8 McFeely's screws. The slats allowed me enough clearance to have the drawers clear the hinges of the doors I installed (with Euro style hinges) to "hide" the drawers. I do not have 100lbs in each drawer, but they carry about 50 lbs each, and are opened several times daily, and none of them has had a problem since the cabinet was built about two years ago.
I am considering using threaded inserts and using #8 machine screws. The holding power of the larger insert (T nut) will be significantly greater than the #8 wood screw.
The idea of routing a slot in the melamine and then inserting a strip of oak or some such is somewhat appealing too. Also bandied about the idea of #8 machine screws with a giant washer behind it.
Don't quite known what I will do. Will post when I choose my solution.
I make my living overbuilding. The trick is to know when to overbuild and how much effort to put into the overbuilding - otherwise you don't accomplish very much.
If you're worried about it, the front six inches of a HD slide will have at least four places to insert screws. That's 8 screws per drawer in the front six inches. With a fully loaded drawer, based on your 40 to 50 pound estimate, figure somewhere around 10 or 15 pounds per screw in shear. That's no problem at all.
Your earlier comment about the melamine crumbling in your hand is of more concern. The only time I have seen the stuff crumbly is when I had some stored in a basement near the boiler. It had dried out and become noticeably weaker, but I still couldn't crumble it with my fingers.
I don't know how many drawers are affected, but if there are a number I'd do some tests before committing. Hang a slide from one screw in the melamine and hang a 20 pound weight from the slide with a coat hanger or wire. If it supports that you have no worries at all.
As an alternative, the particle board is weakened by the screw threads. If you can strengthen the particle board at the screw threads themselves, that's the best way to approach it. If you put a little yellow glue in the hole before inserting the screw it will bond the particle board, errrr, particles around the screw thread and make it more secure.
"RicodJour" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@v33g2000cwv.googlegroups.com:
*snip*
If you wanted to remove the screw with the glue, though, wouldn't you have to break the glue joint? Would perhaps putting some glue on the screw (or in the hole) and screwing it in and removing it immediately help with the particle board particles, but still leave the boards easily taken apart? Or is that not necessary?
I was assuming that the slides were permanent. Reasonable quality slides will last as long as the useful life of a melamine cabinet.
You could spray the screw with something to act as a release agent, but with such short screws I think I'd rather err on the side of too strong of a hold rather than too weak.
As others have said, the screws that came with the slides are just fine. There is no/little pulling force on them, just downward "push" and the mel board will handle that just fine. Just drill a pilot hole the size of the screw shank or slightly less and snug screw by hand.
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