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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2012
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    Brisbane (Chermside)
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    Default Indestructible Bed

    I have been commanded to make a Queen sized bed for my step-son. He moved house recently, and my wife discovered the lovely sleigh bed she had bought him had disintegrated and been dumped. His mattress was on the floor. The only two pieces of furniture this bloke owns that are still solid and serviceable were made in my shop ... made to be as close to indestructible as possible, from timber and ply. To say he is tough on things is a bit of an understatement. He is the opposite of his mum, for whom even delicate pieces last forever.

    The design criteria given to me were that the bed should be inexpensive, easy to disassemble and move without any special tools and as tough as hob nails. It must have a head, but no foot. The toughness criterion excludes any form of chipboard or MDF, which our hero seems to demolish at short order. Being pretty scores no points for this job. Only cost, ease of assembly/disassembly and toughness count.

    Inexpensive is easy. Inexpensive and tough is a bit more difficult. I decided to build the bed from re-dressed structural pine with a head made of panels with ply inserts. Joinery will be floating tenons. The base will be one solid piece, never to be disassembled. The head will be screwed or perhaps bolted to the base. So, in any future move the bed will be in three pieces; the base, the head and the mattress. The only components that remain from the sleigh bed are the slats ... minus two that were used to make a dog fence and which a flat mate liberated.

    Just returned from Bunnings, where the necessary framing pine and ply was purchased. I waded through the timber to select lengths that were, as far as possible, free of dead knots, to preserve strength. Total cost about $110.00. Construction will start this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Towradgi
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    Default

    Good luck John!
    Pat
    Work is a necessary evil to be avoided. Mark Twain

  4. #3
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Albury
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    Default

    Good luck with that John. Sounds like more of a metal fabrication job to me!

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    back in Alberta for a while
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    68
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    Default

    DAMHIKT, but single piece queen size bed frames are nearly impossible to get in and out of apartments or older houses.
    For a queen size bed, I think it would be better to make two "single" frames that clip together.
    regards from Alberta, Canada

    ian

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    San Antonio, Texas, USA
    Posts
    3,070

    Default

    I had a thought the other day that one could probably make a profitable business based on idiot proofing existing products or making idiot proof products. The impetus for my thinking came from the same type of source.
    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    Strathalbyn South Australia
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    1,141

    Default

    Could you get him into the workshop to help you build it? He may then appreciate how much time and effort goes into making it and treat it a little better this time....
    Just a thought [emoji848]


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    blue mountains
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    4,882

    Default

    There are a few versions of bed hardware out there that can can allow a bed to be broken down for movement. I used this one a few years back. You do have to use a mallet to tap the thing apart however.
    Another and cheap method is to use regular bolts but then a spanner is required.
    Regards
    John
    Attached Images Attached Images

  9. #8
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    May 2012
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    Default

    Thanks for all the ideas guys,

    The build was supposed to start yesterday. However one thing led to another and we wound up with 9 additional family members at our place for lunch, so apart from dressing some timber, naught was achieved.

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    69

    Default

    I made a queen bed last year with similar requirements - cheap and very strong, the previous one being a flimsy Chinese thing that fell apart. I had some bits of oak and douglas fir lying around that I wanted to use. Also, my wife had purchased a headboard and I was instructed to build something to match.

    I didn't want to use typical bed hardware as I've seen that stuff wiggle apart over time. But I also didn't want to fix it as one solid piece or I'd never get it in the room. So what I went with in the end was a sort of very large half blind dovetail. The pieces tap together with a mallet and then are held in place via some screws from the back. That way it's the dovetail that's supporting the weight, not the screws.

    Been using it for about a year and it's been great. It also doesn't squeak like the old one which is a plus

    Bed.jpgBed2.jpgBed3.JPGBed4.JPG

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Perth WA Australia
    Posts
    828

    Default

    Having zero experience in making furniture or anything out of wood for that manner, I decided to make a king size bed before i got married (was poor and had more time than money). I used the brackets shown in the Orraloon's post, but also added a "mortise and tenon" to join the side rails to the legs. I say "mortise and tenon" because the fit is loose but its works well as the tenon holds the weight and the bracket keeps everything snug.

    Its been many years since then and the bed is still going strong, no creeks or wobbles and has been moved/dismantled a few times, would recommend adding a middle support

  12. #11
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Albury
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    3,019

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    Hi WoodyNZ. That's an innovative solution to the problem. Did you cut the dovetails using the router following a template?

  13. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    69

    Default

    Thanks. It was the result of asking some questions on this forum a little while back and sort of taking the best of each suggestion. Yeah I made a template and cut it with a flush trim bit on the router. Two templates actually, one for the legs and one for the rails.

    I was going to square up the cuts on the legs with a chisel but then decided that it was easier to give the template for the rail ends some rounded edges instead. You probably lose a tiny bit of strength by doing it that way, but with a dovetail this large I don't think it matters.

  14. #13
    Join Date
    May 2012
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    Brisbane (Chermside)
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    Default

    IMAG0199[1].jpg

    Three floating tenons for each joint. Then the corners were blocked. Then corner bracing was added. The top and bottom slats were checked around the blocking and glued and screwed into place. Stats repaired or replaced. Now for the head.

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