Expert: Kirk Ryan - 7/4/2010

Question
Over the years, the ball bearings have been falling out of the drawer slides making it difficult to open and close the drawers.  A slide fell out also.  Two questions....
1. How does one repair the problem if you want to stick with the slides with ball bearings? Is it possible to do it yourself? Do they make repair kits for this sort of thing?
2. In another response of yours (see below), you replaced the ball bearing slides with wooden runners in a dresser of yours? What kind of skills am I looking for in the professional to do this conversion?




     

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Cabinets, Furniture, Woodworks - dresser drawer guides
Expert: Kirk Ryan - 3/11/2009

Question
I have a dresser my mom bought, probably in the 1960-70's from Sears, there is no identification as far as co etc.  I have a few drawers that the metal guide is missing and we have been trying to find new ones.  the bottom part is wood that has been cut out for the grooves and the metal part was hooked to the bottom of the drawers.  they were one piece and ran the full depth of the drawer.  Can you give me any ideas?

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Answer
Sounds familiar to me, but also sounds like an old style runner. I would try schockmetal.com. They might have it. Otherwise I would suggest having a professional come out and see if he can convert it to something new. I had all my runners converted to wood slide runners. I was sick of the runners breaking and the ball bearings falling out.

Answer
1. Once the ball bearings start falling out there is no way to fix it. The runner will need to be replaced. Schockmetal.com - You can order new ones there.

2. You would need someone who is experienced with wood working or custom furniture making to be able to create the wooden slide option.