Any Bedmakers out there?

[myxpykalix]

I have been asked to design and make a rather ornate bed for a person and wondered if there were any of you who have made anything like this if there are any different design or building techniques i need to be aware of to take into consideration when designing the componnents?

Because the husband and wife are (whats the politically correct term for fat?)-"rotund" (his words, not mine):eek: I wanted to use the flat metal bedframe for the actual support and use the wood frame as the decoration (if that makes sense) to hide the metal frame.

Are there any recommended hardware suppliers? Is there a relatively easy program out there that you can recommend that i could use to make a 3d model of the parts after it is put together? Not something to design it with but something like Google sketchup to put the parts together to make a 3d model? Something that is not hard to learn?

[gc3]

now that will be a great summer to summer project ;)

[srwtlc]

Here's one that I've done a few of. Although not as ornate as your example, it's rock solid. The side rails are 5/4 cherry and are mortised/tenoned into the head/foot along with a bedrail connector like this....

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=25449 ....very strong.

The cross slats are connected to the side rails and since it's a king size, I decided to add a center support that is inset from the ends and rests on the floor to support the middle of the box frame better.

Rockler has quite a bit of bed hardware, but it can generally be found elsewhere for less $.

[CNYDWW]

I've made several "special purpose" beds although that was pre-cnc. I always used post and beam/timber frame construction and that style never needed the steel frame. In this case a welded steel frame would be ideal. If it's welded it could be directly attached to the four posts at the head and foot boards. Depending on the weight of the occupants along with the size of the bed, i would suggest a center leg for anything larger then a full size mattress. I always design my furniture in SketchUp Pro first. It always seams a lot more efficient.

Regards
Randy

[myxpykalix]

Randy,
I was just thinking about those regular "fold up" type of bedframe with a center support like they use for a king size bed, not some specially welded thing. They're fat but not THAT fat!:eek: lol

My point was that i wanted the metal frame to do the holding, not the wood, but as you say have the wooden part attached to the metal frame.

Let me ask you a question about sketchup. What filetype would i need to make a 3d bed in sketchup?

Let me ask in a different way...If i made all the seperate parts and saved them as stl's (or whatever) is there a way to take the various parts and put them together in sketchup to make a solid 3d model?
Ultimately this is not absolutely necessary to the project but I think i might like to have this done.:D

[Greybarn]

We make 3D assemblies all of the time using a program called Solid Edge. If you send the individual STL files I can probable make the assembly for you. Iges or Step files would be better than STL.
Regards
Peter

[myxpykalix]

When I get to the point of making the parts I will definitely do that rather then me going out and having to learn a new program for sure.:D

[gene]

Jack
The correct term may be that they are horizontally challenged !

[CNYDWW]

With sketup's free version i forget exactly what can be imported. I know that it wont import STL but it will 3ds . Exporting anything besides it's native format without paying for it is done by a free addon which gives you several export options including stl, dxf, 3d mesh etc. I still use the add on simply because i can choose a face on a project and export the face only as dxf. It's better to use sketchup in the initial design stage and use it as a tool from there.

As far as the steel frame, keep in mind that the legs of those are meant to support the weight at their own feet. They do have brackets on the ends for attaching head and foot boards but the legs are ugly and would have to be hidden. How about simply making your own or side frames that are designed to be attached to the head and foot boards rather then the pre-made frames. If you just simply cut the legs off of those i don't believe they're going to hold up. A length of cold rolled angle with a plate welded on each end would be rather inexpensive and very strong.

[CNYDWW]

Jack
The correct term may be that they are horizontally challenged !

Wouldn't it be horizontally gifted? In highschool football we had a "smurf squat" second string defense. Vertically challenged and horizontally gifted(short and fat) as the coach used to say. I was on first string. Then again i was vertically and horizontally gifted 6ft 3in 335lbs.

[steve]

Jack, sent you an email on this.
Here is a post I am currently working on. The base for it will be a square frame and pannel ped. This one will be about 6.5" dia. Could be done any dia..

[myxpykalix]

what height will this be? I like that. I believe that these posts for the 4 poster beds have to be tall enough to make the beds like 7 ft tall.

[steve]

This one is only 38" for the turned section.
It could be streched out to make up the height you need but you need to think about where the headboard is going to attach to the post.
Also the top of this post is wide to support a canopy frame, it could taper to accept a finial top.

[steve]

Here's a rough model of that post as a 5.5 x 5.5 x 80" post with the top of the headboard able to be joined at 39", which is at the largest dia. of the reeded section. The foot post could have less square section and longer fluted section.

[myxpykalix]

I like that lots!:D Is the bottom square (looks round)? I think what they want is to put a large headboard (similar to the picture) where it goes all the way up, so i would need to be able to connect the headboard to the column at a square section or maybe just connect the headboard at the top to the canopy and have the columns seperated from the headboard.

I like that very much. Any guesses as to how long that might take to machine?

[steve]

Each post is a 10-12 hour cut. I like to turn the post to round on my lathe first, saves time machining from square to round on the indexer. When I don't want to do that I will edit the "square to round" file so it's not cutting so much air the first two passes.
For this post I would use a 1/2"round nose, 3/16" round nose and a 1/8" tapered bit.