Drawer slides

[Lee4847]

I just got back from Heartville hardware where I was looking at drawer slides. I was thinking of getting the hidden full extension under drawer slides. The salesman suggested getting regular full extension slides and mounting them flat as they are much cheaper. He said the only drawback is that the load rating is half when they are mounted flat. Has anyone had experance good or bad with mounting them flat? Has anyone ever seen data that suggests the load rating is half?

Thanks in advance,

Lee

[cabinetman]

Side mount slides aren't designed to be used flat.
.

[Salty]

I had considered doing this and then remembered that years ago I had a set of slides that had came apart, as in the rails and bearings were in pieces.
Well, I eventually gave up trying to re-assemble them.
I would be concerned about 2 things.
First, since they are designed to apply the force to the ball grooves vertically, they may come apart more easily if the rails get twisted or out of alignment.
Also, they may become noisy if the ball bearings begin to wear incorrectly.

Or maybe I'm just thinking about this too much.
Heck, if they cost 2 or 3 times as much, buy 2 sets and keep the others for spares!

[Lee4847]

Well that was my thinking also that they should not be laying flat. I have no idea why the salesman came up with that 50% laying flat??