Toddler bed

[9fingers]

Bob,

I don't have those actual ones, but some of the same type. I have bought a few bits and pieces from Banggood and most of it has been OK. Hopefully these will be a good buy.

Quite understand Dave. I'll try them as delivered and I can always touch them up with a diamond file if they are a bit roughly hewn.
Bob

 

[Phil]

I like!

Might also buy a set.

 

[Commander]

I was able to make a decent amount of progress during the previous weekend, the bed structure is now basically complete. There is still a bit of finishing needed, and the roof needs to be built, but I'm happy with the speed of progress so far.

I wanted to be able to remove the safety rails if at some point we found they were no longer needed as well as in the interest of being able to disassemble the bed. I also want to be able to look at later building a structurally identical bed and stacking them should that be a requirement. With that in mind I had to add a section above the bed structure to widen the top part of the leg, both for adding a slit for the safety rail and for a wider support base for a top bunk.

I cut these to be the same height and width as the existing posts and setup the table saw to cut the corner out (together with the corner cut out on the current post this will then form a slot).



http://i.imgur.com/JyY8tIR.jpg

Unfortunately the two cutouts (even after measuring and doing a test fit...) ended up not being completely even... I'm pretty disappointed with this, however it won't be readily visible so I will leave it at that (I made a complete hash out of one section so had to redo it from scratch).





Next step was making the rails, for this I cut sections of brandering (36x36mm) to length and cut shoulders on both ends to fit into the slots in the legs.



I then decided on a distance for the uprights to be apart so that a head couldn't fit through it, divided by the distance I had to cover and rounded down, the distance between centers ended up being 118mm so the actual gap would be 118mm - 19mm = 99mm (I'm using 19 mm dowels). All the dowels were cut to size on the mitre saw using a stop. I found a 3/4" wood spade bit to be the perfect size to get a snug fitting hole for the 19mm dowels. The next step was measuring out and drilling the holes for the dowels to fit in, I drilled these roughly 10mm deep.





I rounded all the edges on the rails so there would not be any sharp edges.

I made 3 spacers at 200mm in length so I could clamp the top and bottom rail together but not squeeze it in too far as not all the dowel holes were exactly the same depth (I don't have access to a drill press, its on my wishlist though...). A quick test fit to make sure we don't have any problems and then came gluing. I used quite a bit of glue to make sure we fill the void and get a bit of squeeze out for a good strong bond as I decided against using any screws.






Happy with the fit!

I also added strips to the inside of the bed-rails to support the hybrid slats/base.





I decided on this design as I wanted to have the base removable. I used boards I have available (the holes were drilled for a previous application). I intend on drilling a couple more holes in due course.

Here are a couple of photos of what the bed looks like now. (please excuse the messy workshop!)













I started doing the final filling and sanding as painting the base coat on Sunday. SWAMBO want's the bed to be white (I agree that this would look good in the room as the cot is also white) and this gives me a bit of an opportunity to get away with patching some of the mistakes and nail holes with filler before painting.

I also started cutting the various parts for the roof, however there isn't much of interest to post about there.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Malc2098]

What messy workshop?! Twice as tidy as my garage!

Coming along nicely, Erich!

 

[AndyP]

Remember, Where There Is Work There Is No Order

 

[9fingers]

As promised, Countersink Review posted here

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2469&p=35800#p35800

Bob

 

[Phil]

Looking good Erich!

 

[AndyP]

Your are certainly doing your best to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

 

[Commander]

Thanks for the comment gents!

 

[Commander]

Your are certainly doing your best to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

I have to ask Andy, is that akin to "polishing a t@rd"? :lol:

 

[Commander]

I was able to make some progress over the previous weekend. We are now mostly done with the construction and most of the work that remains is just finishing.

I built the drawer that will fit under the bed. The construction is simple, a flat square box just smaller than the bed itself. Components are glued and screwed together (hopefully one day I will have a dado stack so I can make some easy box joints for this type of work).



I cut a slot in all the side panels to accept a thin (4mm) piece of plywood as the base of the drawer. It tried to get the slot as tight as possible without being overly tight which should help with the rigidity of the drawer. Unfortunately I had to use two separate pieces of ply wood as the piece I had left over was too narrow to be used as one piece.



Due to the small gap between the 2 sections I added a support for the middle (well almost the middle, it is slightly off center). This adds rigidity to the bottom and stops small items from falling through. I glued in a thin strip to keep both halves pushed into the slots in the sides of the drawer. It would seriously weaken the drawer if the bottom was to slip out of the slots.


P.S. the block visible on the left is just there to keep pressure on the strip until the glue is dried.


Some screws to stabilize both boards.


The support seen from the back (bottom) of the drawer)

All and all it isn't the prettiest drawer I have ever made, but once everything is filled and painted it should do the job nicely.

I still have to add cutouts for handles on the drawer as well as the 4 caster wheels to the bottom, I'm in two minds on how to do this, on the cot we have now the wheels are fixed directly to the hardboard bottom, an it seems strong enough, but to my mind it just feels weird to add wheels directly to such thin material! :lol:

After the drawer I got cracking with the "roof" of the bed. I cut all pieces and rounded most of the edges. Then came assembly. I found that even though I anticipated the structure to be a little flimsy it really was not strong enough. So I had to think on my feet and decided to add some "gussets" to the frame. This is the end result.









Now the big job of filling, sanding, and paining starts (and yes this task has now moved from SWAMBO and has fallen squarely on my shoulders ). I think doing the finishing will be critical for this project as it will change the look of the bed significantly.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Malc2098]

Getting a move on nicely!

 

[Commander]

Thanks Malcolm!

 

[Phil]

Looking good Erich.

Now the big job of filling, sanding, and paining starts (and yes this task has now moved from SWAMBO and has fallen squarely on my shoulders ).

I really hate to tell you this :lol: - you were always going to end up doing it! :lol: :lol:

Once you have been married longer you may understand how the wife's brain works.
And even then they still outsmart you! :lol:

 

[Pinch]

I like the stop chamfers Erich - looking dandy chap!

 

[Commander]

I like the stop chamfers Erich - looking dandy chap!

Thanks Paul! I spent a lot of time over the weekend sanding down, filling up and just editing the small details (no piccies unfortunately, it would just be a bit boring to post). I have also been able to do layer 1 of the base coat on most of the pieces. I will add some more pics once all is done and dusted.

Looking good Erich.

Now the big job of filling, sanding, and paining starts (and yes this task has now moved from SWAMBO and has fallen squarely on my shoulders ).

I really hate to tell you this :lol: - you were always going to end up doing it! :lol: :lol:

Once you have been married longer you may understand how the wife's brain works.
And even then they still outsmart you! :lol:

Hahahaha, yes indeed Phil, deep down I always suspected that the job would end up falling to me, but now that we are at this point I'm actually kinda glad, I think a lot will ride on getting the finish just right with this one, so I intend to take a little bit of extra time, sand between layers and re-fill certain gaps if need be just to make sure the end product is up to standard.

Thanks for the comments and thanks for looking! bscene-drinkingcheers:

 

[Commander]

So I actually finished this some time ago, but work has been a madhouse so only got round to uploading the photos now. Here is the finished product.



Both the little one and the wife loves it, so I'm happy. The drawer is a little bit tighter than is ideal, which is my fault for trying to fit everything too precisely. Some of the materials aren't great, but I did end up completing the project with minimal costs, so it comes with the territory.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Malc2098]

Oh, really nice!

 

[AndyP]

It looks good Erich. Well done. what will you do when she is old enough to stand up? As she will be over the side in no time.

 

[MattS]

Brilliant, it looks great, sure little one will love being it even more being made by you :eusa-clap:

 

[Commander]

Thanks for the comments guys! She does like it a lot, the first 2 days we were hard pressed to get her out of bed! When we first assembled everything to do the first test fit we had to stop work for about an hour as she climbed in and didn't want to climb out. :lol:



Andy, she is 2 years old (this was actually part of her present) so she does stand up and if she wanted too she could very easily climb over, the sides are mainly there to stop her from falling out during the night. I'm not sure if it is because she can climb in and out easily enough from the foot of the bed, or because she is not a boy (I'm sure one of the first things I would have done was try to climb over the side), but she hasn't actually tried to climb over the sides at all.

I think the fact that it was painted white has hidden a lot of the imperfections and inherent flaws with the secondhand materials.

 

[Mike G]

Well done Erich! Considering the stuff you have to work with you've done really well.

As for hiding stuff with paint.........the other approach is to make a feature of it. If it's old wood with nail holes and dings here and there, sometimes a bit of dark wax shows these off really nicely, and you can end up with something that has built-in character.

If you were a little further north, that "roof" would be perfect for a mosi net.

Now, when you are starting out, each new project equals one new tool for the workshop. That's the rule (I hope someone mentioned that :lol: ). So, what's on your shopping list? What would help you make this a little more easily next time?

 

[Commander]

Thanks for the comment Mike! I'm not a huge fan of the rustic look, but I agree, when done right it does work well. Regarding new tools... The list is rather long, I hope I can claim that in arrears, since I was not aware of the rule! :lol:

So items i really need/want to enable me to do more things or do them quicker would be in no particular order:

Band saw,
Dado stack,
Drill press,
Planer/jointer/thicknesser,
Proper vernier caliper,
Bench mounted belt sander (thinking of trying to build this myself using an old bench grinder to drive the belt)
Router table,
Bigger shop!

I could probably keep you busy for a while to come, one walk through the local tool section and the list grows! :eusa-dance:

 

[Mike G]

In order of importance, I'd suggest the router table first. I've no idea how I would manage without.

 

[Commander]

Yes that would be very helpful, all I actually need is a base plate to mount the router too, then a fence, I specifically added space on my bench so i can add the router on to the far end. I'm also looking forward to the dado stack, then I should at last be able to make some nice box joints for the run of the mill stuff.

 

[9fingers]

Yes that would be very helpful, all I actually need is a base plate to mount the router too, then a fence, I specifically added space on my bench so i can add the router on to the far end. I'm also looking forward to the dado stack, then I should at last be able to make some nice box joints for the run of the mill stuff.

Whilst I would not try and dissuade you from the dado stack, there are a number of box joint jig designs that work well with a router table. YouTube will no doubt reveal these for you and there is a good one from Steve Maskery who is well known/respected in woodworking circles.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKEB-BIq9qI

[youtube]eKEB-BIq9qI[/youtube]

Drawings http://www.workshopessentials.com/downl ... 0joint.pdf

Bob

 

[Phil]

That looks very good Erich! :eusa-clap:



The "tool rule" was developed by the "man cave/workshop" man yonks ago.

Scenario "Darling I would love a new coffee table", "Certainly my dearest darling wife, it would an absolute pleasure, but ............ for my design (this is where thinking on your feet is very important) I would need a small bandsaw for the curves."

The seed has now been sown for a small bandsaw.
But once you have your design approved on paper, the need for a bigger bandsaw crops up in conversation.

Final result - you both get what you want and are both happy. :lol:

Unless the wife talks to other woodworker wives, she will never cotton on.
The more you do the better the workshop gets.

 

[Commander]

@ Bob, thanks for commenting, I think this is probably one of those items where there are many ways to skin the proverbial cat, I have seen a couple of jigs that make the dado stack method look very easy to do, but I'm sure the router table method also have its advantages. I have flagged the video for later watch as it is a bit long to squeeze in in-between sending emails at the office.

@Phil, I think I like this idea, plus it really does seem to be a win win situation! maybe I can use this to justify why some of my half done projects aren't completed yet! :lol: