Cot

[gdf26562]

My daughter is due in April and asked if I could make her a cot and change table, I was not to fussed about making a cot with all the slats and thought about buying her one, but agreed to give it a go, mostly due to cost and my tight wallet. Having the dimensions of the matress I started on the journey.

I was able to get my hands on some Silky Oak, which is very easy to work with, and I figured it would be easier to use than pine, which tends to bend and warp.

I am enjoying the process of starting with the rough cut Silky Oak and so far its going well.

I have dressed the timber to size, and today I used the Festool Domino on the slats and rails and they came together very well. the bed ends are fairly simple and she likes the design.

I don't know about most of you but when it comes to designing and making plans I tend to do most of it in my head, I rarely write things down and if I do it's on scarps of wood or paper which I usually lose, so a lot of repeating is done, I have attached my current cut list as an example.

The sides of the cot will be fixed and the matress base will be adjustable, so as the kid gets bigger the matress can be moved down in increments. I saw a cot on the net where attached to the the feet of the cot is a board on either side of the leg, with a slight curve is attached using a plug and can allow for the cot to rock slightly, the daughter also likes this, the good thing about it if it does not work then it can be removed easily.

The only downside is that she wants it painted white.

Cheers
Graham

[IanW]

Coming along nicely, gdf. Making those slatted sides seems like a pain when you start, but it doesn't hurt too much ('specially if you have a hollow-chisel mortiser, which I'm only a little ashamed to admit I use very happily on jobs like this... ).

Pity about the paint! I made a cot for the first grand-daughter, last year. It's also S.O., and the parents wanted it stained, which I thought was bad enough.

The 'design brief' called for the cot to convert to a small bed when the incumbent gets to the bed stage (small house, limited room, & they wish to keep things as convenient as possible). It was a lot easier to make sides that could be removed cleanly & not have to worry about drop mechanisms, so that's what I did. There was some discussion about fixed vs drop sides on my thread - some folks said they couldn't live without them. I suppose I was heavily influenced by my own kids, who were all very active, very early, and were no trouble to lift out because they were not big, & could haul themselves up & help by the time their weight was becoming significant. Before a year was out, they were pretty-well finished with cots,anyway. My son could escape a standard cot well before he was a year old! (As I said on the thread, it was my parent's revenge, because I was an escape-artist, too. )

Anyway, they grow so quickly! I never had any complaints about the fixed sides. A year on, the little one is a very active toddler, and I suspect it won't be long before those sides come off permanantly to make the intended kiddie bed..

Cheers,

[Superbunny]

Please remember there are Australian Standards to comply with in the making of cots.

SB

[mark david]

Nice job, althought not keen on having to paint over that nice timber.
There is a much easier way of making the slatted base and that is to rout a channel the full lenth of side rails, if you don't like the gaps you can just make infill strips just like staircase ballustrades are done.

I have a couple of cots I am repairing at the moment, they are a well known brand and quite expensive but two of the side rails are broken.Some idiot at the factory thought it was a good idea to use side rails that were finger jointed in the middle

[Wongo]

Exciting project. I made one for my youngest daughter 3.5 years ago, and she is still sleeping in it.

On painting the cot, it seems an awful waste to paint the Silky Oak. Silky oak is a beautiful wood and this will be an heirloom piece, so it deserves more respect than a few coats of paint. (Sorry this is a bit upsetting.) I don’t see why the receiver cannot be educated. If it is what she wants then at least get some plantation wood like Radiata Pine from Bunnings.

[IanW]

....On painting the cot, it seems an awful waste to paint the Silky Oak. Silky oak is a beautiful wood and this will be an heirloom piece, so it deserves more respect than a few coats of paint. (Sorry this is a bit upsetting.) I don’t see why the receiver cannot be educated. If it is what she wants then at least get some plantation wood like Radiata Pine from Bunnings......

Ah, Wongo - the customer is always right, & when they are your children, they are even righter! Hasn't your daughter taught you that by now? It only gets harder as they get older!

Perhaps, gdf, if you have any qualms about painting the S.O., you could brush on a coat or two of shellac before hitting it with the paint. That will stop it from soaking into the wood & make it easier to clean off down the track, should anyone wish to do so...

Cheers,

[gdf26562]

Hi guys,

When I finish the cot, I will send her a pic of it 'natural' hoping to tug at her heart strings, but I doubt it.

Prior to making the cot I checked the aussie standards and the main issue was the gap between the slots, having to be a minimum of 50mm, so I set about making it with that in mind.

Spent another day in the shed and finished all the slats and made the bed ends, put it together and thought "nice job, happy with that"

But as I uploaded the following pic, I noticed that I have stuffed it, I won't tell you what I did wrong as it should be able to be picked out. BUGGER, BUGGER, BUGGER

Graham

[Handyjack]

Hi guys,

When I finish the cot, I will send her a pic of it 'natural' hoping to tug at her heart strings, but I doubt it.

Prior to making the cot I checked the aussie standards and the main issue was the gap between the slots, having to be a minimum of 50mm, so I set about making it with that in mind.

Spent another day in the shed and finished all the slats and made the bed ends, put it together and thought "nice job, happy with that"

But as I uploaded the following pic, I noticed that I have stuffed it, I won't tell you what I did wrong as it should be able to be picked out. BUGGER, BUGGER, BUGGER

Graham

Oh Bugger - it wouldn't be the gap between the slats and the side frame being less than 50mm would it?
Other than that it looks good.
Just gives you an idea of how much work goes into designing these things with all the standards in place. Any wonder so many look the same?

[mark david]

Having checked the australian standards, the spaces between the slats have to be between 50 and 95mm so I see your problem, bugger indeed

Could you cut out the last slat And infill the mortice or would you be then over the 95mm.
If you are painting Iit you wouldn't see it.

Hi guys,

When I finish the cot, I will send her a pic of it 'natural' hoping to tug at her heart strings, but I doubt it.

Prior to making the cot I checked the aussie standards and the main issue was the gap between the slots, having to be a minimum of 50mm, so I set about making it with that in mind.

Spent another day in the shed and finished all the slats and made the bed ends, put it together and thought "nice job, happy with that"

But as I uploaded the following pic, I noticed that I have stuffed it, I won't tell you what I did wrong as it should be able to be picked out. BUGGER, BUGGER, BUGGER

Graham

[gdf26562]

Well I got around to fixing the mistake, by replacing the the top and bottom rails, now all the slats are within the standard, took a while but worth it, as you can see I have put it together to see how it looks, still needs to be glued.

Graham

[IanW]

Looks like a bought one, only better...

I see you fixed the problem the only way possible. I've been in similar predicaments a few times (due mostly to the fact that, like you, I did most of the design in my head). Spent hours or days trying to figure out an 'easy' fix, & sometimes attempt one, but always end up tackling the 'proper' fix in the end. Near enough is rarely good enough, and you probably have a pretty picky customer on this job!