Best Lubricant For Plastic Drawer Slides

First time i ve used a wax type lubricant for wood to wood drawer glides metal to metal metal to plastic window guides and wheels.

Best lubricant for plastic drawer slides.

Synthetic hydrocarbon shc 60 to 150 c ester 70 to 150 c polyalkylene glycol pag 40 to 180 c silicone 75 to 200 c perfluoropolyether pfpe 90 to 250 c. Be careful not to use any harsh lubrication products though as they can damage the finish. Use caution with ester and polyalkylene glycol. Has your drawer slide lost its smooth movement.

Spray lubes generally don t have enough body to stay in place. Wipe your slide s individual members. The best products to use for wood are. Make sure your oil and plastic are compatible otherwise the part may crack or craze leading to premature failure.

The results exceeded my expectations. Firstly mineral oils are a great choice because they do not attack plastic and offer good operational as well as economical performance with plastics. So much so that after applying to an often used wood to wood drawer and used to a certain amount of resistance i almost flung the drawer across the room. Derfoe powdered graphite this versatile powdered graphite lubricant can work on metal wood or even plastic toolbox drawer slides.

In a pinch you can use a bar of soap apparently ivory works best. Hardened and crusty grease in the drawer tracks must be pretty common on lista s and vidmar s. For wood slides wax is the way to go. Now that we know which lubricant materials are good for plastic and which ones are not let us look at what lubricants are best to use with plastic.

I clean them with mineral spirits acetone or brake cleaner and then lube them with heavy machine oil. Recommended lubricants for plastic. Wd40 is a fair cleaner for them if they re really gunked up but not a good lube. If there are plastic parts in the slide be sure that the lube used is safe for plastics and avoid petroleum solvents like wd40 when cleaning.

If the drawer slides are plastic or metal you can still use the recommended lubricants for wood drawers like wax or tape but your best bet would be to purchase and apply white lithium grease. They do operate at higher speeds higher temperatures and for long duration operations. Separate your drawer members.