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I have now installed three STAS minirails |
February 24, 2017 |
| Reviewer:
Sean from Saratoga Springs, NY United States
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I have now installed three STAS minirails, and while I'm delighted with the results, installing
them wasn't as easy as I expected. Here are some thoughts about my experience.
The only instructions I received comprised one sheet with a template for drilling the holes, and
another with just drawings to guide the process of installing everything.
For the first installation, I used the template, and drilled the holes and inserted the screws. What
I didn't realize was that the ceiling wasn't completely level. The next one I did was to use the
minirail itself to pencil a perfectly level line (which would be covered by the rail itself). So
regardless of the ceiling, the minirail's screws would be set perfectly straight. Might be worth
pointing out the dangers of using the template when the ceiling isn't itself perfectly level, which
is far more likely in a residential situation.
Now for attaching the minirail. According to the instruction, apparently all you do is set the top of the rail against the top of the screws, and click. In none of
the three installations did this work. In fact, I had to use a block of wood to get them to attach. At
first I assumed it was because the screws might have been slightly out of alignment, but using
my minirail to produce a perfectly straight line for the screws didn't make 'clicking' work any
better. Either I've done something wrong, or just clicking doesn't work. And none of the videos
(even ones on YouTube) showed the clicking process.
In two cases, I had to join two minirails. In the illustration for that it's not entirely clear that the connector goes at the back of the rails, so I was trying to get it
inside. I had assumed that putting it at the back would then raise the rail from the surface. Only
after quite a bit of experimenting did I figure it out (but one video I saw on YouTube later did
show this). A better illustration would have saved me some frustrating minutes.
Oh, and one minor point. I don't have metric drill bit, so I couldn’t figure out what a regular bit
size corresponding to 6mm was. Would have been handy to say what to use in case you didn’t
have a 6mm bit.
None of this frustration would have occurred if there was available an actual video of a
STAS employee installing a mini-rail, showing the process start to finish, and pointing
things out that might interfere with a smooth installation. Or, failing that, a much better
set of written directions!
One other point. The clips that come standard with the Minirail Kit - Complete with hooks and cords work OK, but one has to be careful to push the
sides in enough so that they don’t scrape/shave the perlon cords. They are also much harder to
make adjustments to the cords. The Zippers are more expensive, but do a much better job of
sliding pictures up and down, and not just because they can carry much more weight.
But I have to say, once everything is installed, the system works superbly well, looks great (you
can barely see the cords), and allows infinite adjustments to whatever items are hung with it. I
haven’t painted the rails yet, but knowing that I can make them disappear as well, is an added
bonus.
Last point. Customer service is outstanding! I even got an almost instant response on a Sunday,
no less.
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