I’m considering aluminum angle for the bottoms of drawer boxes that would slide on waxed hardwood channels. The boxes are made of plywood and wouldn’t hold up to the wear of direct contact. There is not space at the bottom to build up with hardwood. Side full extensions would be great, but would cost $1000 for this size project- and I’m selling the house. So…I want effective and cheap. On the left and right bottoms of the boxes I would install aluminum angle with the screws countersunk. They would rest on wood runners, old school style. I’m just curious if aluminum would glide on hardwood under a load of 20-30 pounds. Anybody have experience or a word of advice?
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If the aluminum is smooth-surfaced and burr-free it should slide fine. It will wear the runners faster than wood-on-wood..errr, would; so you would do good to choose a very hard wood. (sorry)
I see that this thread is about a month old but, if you are still looking, try the stick-on UHMW (link below) tape. Stick it to the drawer bottoms and they will slide on the hardwood runners just fine. Also, it is very thin. So, clearance problems should not be an issue.
https://www.amazon.com/UHMW-TAPE-19-20A-5-18-Adhesive-020-Transparent/dp/B01N5G0Z8Y/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=hdpe+tape&qid=1585606386&sr=8-4
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