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How well a drawer works largely comes down to its runners, since it is these that determine whether a drawer opens and closes smoothly. Up until now, drawer runners have usually been made from solid wood – but that could now be set to change, thanks to RAKU^® TOOL WB-1000 polyurethane board material from RAMPF Tooling Solutions.

Why? Furniture is often placed in rooms where levels of air conditioning vary, so there is a risk that solid wood will warp due to changes in temperature or humidity. When this happens, full-extension drawer runners can be badly affected and stop working properly.

As Matthias Traxel, Technical Service Expert at RAMPF Tooling Solutions, explains – “The big advantage of polyurethane is that it isn’t an ‘active’ material like wood, so it doesn’t swell, shrink, warp, or rupture. The plastic material is therefore very-well suited for making products designed to perform a technical function, such as drawer runners, because long-term functionality is ensured.”

Of course, for full-extension drawer runners to work perfectly, they need to be made with highest precision. Thanks to its outstanding technical properties and superb quality, RAKU^® TOOL WB-1000 is also the material of choice in this regard.

The advantages at a glance:

• Excellent machinability with carpentry tools
• Easy sawing, milling, drilling, grinding, and surface treatment with lacquer
• Very good sliding properties thanks to the smooth, dense, and fine surface
• In contrast to full extension slides made of solid wood, board material does not have to be treated with additional lubricants to make handling easier
• Very good dimensional stability, no distortion, no shrinkage, good edge strength
• Moisture resistant

Master carpenter Jonas Gessner gave an impressive demonstration of just how suitable RAKU^® TOOL WB-1000 is for making full-extension drawer runners, when he used the high-performance material in his qualifying assessment:

“I came across the board material at a RAMPF Tooling Solutions seminar. That’s when I decided to make my full extension drawer runners out of RAKU® TOOL WB-1000 instead of using solid wood as carpenters normally do. A full-extension drawer runner needs to be made with the utmost precision to ensure it works properly, has all the necessary technical properties, and meets the desired quality standards. The polyurethane board material is the best way to achieve this precision.”