Can I add holes to drawer slides for mounting at other points?

Question

I'm wanting to make a sliding tray that is attached to a shelf - It will only be a partial width of the shelf, not the full width.

I will be needing to support up to 15kg and have a slide length of 400mm.

I have looked for drawer slides that I can achieve this and have been recommended to use undermount slides.

The issue I have found here is that these have holes pre-drilled in order to screw into walls of a unit etc, whereas my partial width sliding tray won't have a wall on one side to screw into...

My question is; could I instead of using the pre-drilled holes on the side, drill some holes of my own into the base of the slides (and countersink), and then screw directly into the shelf? Would this work?

I understand that this won't be as stable as I'll be pulling on the same axis that the screws are attached into the shelf, but if I used more screws... :D

Answer 1

Can you?

Sure! It's your tray, after all.

Should you?

I don't see a reason it won't work right off the top of my head. However, you're the one with the hardware in hand, so you'd have to make the determination of whether or not you think the slide is stiff enough to take the inevitable wobble that will happen if the side isn't fully braced as the manufacturer expects it to be. Worst case scenario is that it won't work as you'd hoped and you'll have to come up with another mounting method.

Frame challenge:

Mount a piece of wood as a vertical divider at the edge of the sliding tray, then attach the slide to that as it's designed.

The wood could be the height of the tray (and expected contents), or it could go all the way to the top of the shelf making a completely enclosed compartment for the sliding tray.

By screwing up through the shelf and into the bottom of the tray with appropriate wood screws (and down from the top, if you choose to go with a full height divider), you're giving the wood a solid mounting to the shelf. Then, you can use the hardware supplied with the drawer slide to mount through the side as it was designed to.

As an added bonus, this would give a more finished look, rather than just having the drawer slide in the middle of the shelf. Also, it helps protect the slide from other items falling into the slide mechanism, possibly jamming it or coming away with some grease on them when they're removed.