It is currently 28 Mar 2024, 20:53

Daughters' Bed Build - COMPLETE (Well almost)

This is where we don't want anything but evidence of your finest wood butchering in all its glorious, and photograph laden glory. Bring your finished products or WIP's, we love them all, so long as there's pictures, and plenty of 'em!

Daughters' Bed Build - COMPLETE (Well almost)

Postby TrimTheKing » 21 Jul 2014, 20:50

So this one is taken from 5 years ago and I have posted in a few different posts as it took me a looooooooong time to get it finished…!

We are expecting bambino #2 in about 10 weeks and I made the foolish commitment to making a bedroom suite for her new room (she's being evicted from the nursery) rather than let SWMBO spend stupid money on Mark Wilkinson stuff :shock: :shock:

Well, we are a single income household now she's a housewife so need to be frugal!!!

So, I have designed what I want the bed to look like (less some embellishments on the top of the posts that I can't be ar$ed working out how to draw in sketchup) and went and bought myself about 10cube of Ash (SWMBO's choice...) for making the bed.

The Wardrobe, side table and drawers will follow but given my time constraints and current workshop time the bed is most important.

So, here's the bed design...
Image
Image
Image

And here's the stack of timber I picked up on Monday. Not sure whether it was a good deal or not but I'm limited for decent timber places that will even talk to me as a hobbiest so this lot cost me £218 (average around £21 per cube).
Image

I am hoping to get into the 'shop this evening to face it all up and start organising my cuts to get the best grain matching and go from there.

Hopefully you can help me along the way...Heaven knows I'll need it ;)

As always, comments on desing, construction or anything else always welcomed.
Cheers
Mark
TrimTheKing
Site Admin
 
Posts: 7567
Joined: 16 Jun 2014, 13:27
Location: Grappenhall, Cheshire
Name: Mark

Re: Daughters' Bed Build - COMPLETE (Well almost)

Postby TrimTheKing » 21 Jul 2014, 20:51

So after buying the timber and facing it all up just after this original post i left it all in stick to settle until I had some time to start looking at it.

Easter weekend was perfect and SWMBO told me that I should use the time when bambino has her morning nap then lunch (approximately 11am-2:30) in the workshop then we could do family things in the afternoon.

Sounded like a good deal to me so on Friday I got in there and had a look at what the timber was showing me to match up the grain for the long side rails.

Came out with these...
Image

Got the long edges jointed on the planer but the tables must be a bit out of alignment after my messing around to get the thicknesser working properly so I could only get a slightly convex edge. Set them up in the vice and rested on TS to joint them by hand
Image

Then same deal to get some biscuits into them for alignment/strength
Image

Here's where I had my first cock up, got cocky on my second to last biscuit :roll: and didn't move it far enough away from the wood before lowering and took a chunk out of the edge
Image

Luckily I had left these rails about 6mm over thickness so providing they don't move too much I should be able to remove most material from this side and lose the ding. I was ruching so I probably should have just taken the edge off on the TS as I had a good 20mm to play with on the width but I wasn't thinking straight so I glued it up anyway
Image

And here it is
Image

Next I planned out and cut out all the components for the legs and head/footboard top and bottom rails
Image

Jointed the edges on these to get a slightly sprung joint. Shouldn't really need it as the timber is dry and my workshop is the same temp and RH as the rest of my house as it's an attached garage running on the central heating system but I like to do it anyway just in case. Mmmmmmm shavings :lol:
Image

One of the legs in the cramps. Having to do one at a time as I want the tightest joints I can to hide the glue joints. Once the cramps came off this and I faced up one side the glue joint is almost invisible so I'm happy.
Image


I have now jointed and thicknessed (slightly over) all the leg timbers and all rails ready for gluing which I will be continuing tomorrow night and over the weekend. Too depressed after United's shocking showing in the second half this evening :(

More to come after the weekend so stay tuned...
Cheers
Mark
TrimTheKing
Site Admin
 
Posts: 7567
Joined: 16 Jun 2014, 13:27
Location: Grappenhall, Cheshire
Name: Mark

Re: Daughters' Bed Build - COMPLETE (Well almost)

Postby TrimTheKing » 21 Jul 2014, 20:52

Finally an update to the progress on this.

Latest update before I go in there tomorrow.

After gluing up the rails for the head & foot boards I needed to draw the curves so here's my super technical curve-o-matic 1000, otherwise known as 2 bits of scrap tacked together with a masonry nail at various distances from the rail until I got the right radius :D
Image

And after a little trial and error...
Image

Next is cutting the 5deg slope onto the ends of the rails (if you remember from above the legs cant out at 5deg, and backwards at 5deg also)
Image

Next cutting the curves on the rails and here are both the base and top rail of the foot board with one curve cut
Image
Image

And then the legs being squared up after some judicious thicknessing. Notice the monster snipe on the ends which prompted a 3 hour hiatus to get to the bottom of this. I can now take any thickness off on either the thicknesser or planer and get 5thou of snipe on thicknessing and not a single bit of snipe on jointing, so I'm happy with that.
Image

Cleaning up the curves with the veritas curved sole spoke shave. Takes a little getting used to to twist the wrists properly, but once mastered (well, when I say mastered... :oops: ) it leaves an amazing finish (second pic) that I won;t even be touching with abrasives as it is like glass to the touch.
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

And here is the foot board laid out to tweak the angles of the top rail
Image

Now came the exciting bit for me, the first use (in anger) of Big Dom!!! After spending a good while reading the official manual, then both the unofficial ones, I tested it out on some scrap to get my bearings, then took the plunge. Using the reference pins on both the body of Big Dom, then the ref pins on the extension wings I tentatively hit the end of the rail. So far so good...
Image

Then I measured where I wanted them on the leg and nervously did that too (with a bit of waggle to assist ;)...
Image

And here's how it worked out (dry fit only). WooHoo!!! :dance: I appreciate that for the pro's and those who have had a Dom for a while that this will seem ridiculous, but for my first attempt it was scary as all hell as I've a lot of time invested in this so far and didn't want to * it up ;)
Image

Next I took the offcuts and marked them into quarters in the length then freehanded them on the bandsaw. The eagle eyed among you will notice that they are completely on the p!ss which is entirely intentional! No, honest!

This bed is to match some Mark Wilkinson furniture we have for her bedroom, which is called the Goldilocks range and is made to look like it's bee hand made from curvy woodland sticks (or some such guff ;)) so I want these spindles to match that style.
Image
Image

Once they were cut out I got to work on them with the spindle sander and took the saw marks off. Just a rough sanding for now, they will be cleaned up with the shave later.
Image

And that's it for now.

Hopefully more tomorrow as I plan to complete the joinery for the head board, drill the holes for the bolts to hold the side rails on, and make a start on the spindles, providing I don't 'wizer' anything along the way ;)

Nite nite all.
Cheers
Mark
TrimTheKing
Site Admin
 
Posts: 7567
Joined: 16 Jun 2014, 13:27
Location: Grappenhall, Cheshire
Name: Mark

Re: Daughters' Bed Build - COMPLETE (Well almost)

Postby TrimTheKing » 21 Jul 2014, 20:55

Well it's been a long time in the coming but it's finished!!! Well, almost, all bar the acorns for atop the legs, but she needed to sleep in it before she's too old ;) and I can do the acorns at my leisure as I need some lathe practice to make sure I get them right.

I apologise in advance for the length of this post, but there's a lot to get in there as it's been 3 months since my last diary entry...

So here we go, after the last update I was at the stage of having dry fit together the head/foot boards and was sanding down the spindles. I then got to work on turning the ends of the spindles to a round spigot to fit into 13mm drill holes in the top/bottom rails of the end boards...

Image

These were then measured, spaced and tweaked to length to ensure that the spindle shoulders were level to each other (ish)...

Image

Then dry fit and tweaked until the whole thing fitted together nice and tight in dry fit.

Image

Next, after the legs had been cut to length was to add the details, nothing fancy just a couple of chamfers, down each of the vertical arrises and around the top/bottom edges. All router burn was taken out with card scrapers and the chamfers were tweaked with a chisel to make them look more hand cut, no reason, just fancied it.

Image

Image

Image


All headboard components were then given 2 coats of paste wax (except the holes and spigots of spindles obviously) then came glue up...

Image

I bought the Titebond extend because I knew it would be tricky getting all the spindles etc in alignment, then the legs on, but little did I realise quite how tricky...

Long story but let's just say I started with the footboard as it's the smaller of the two, and after 15 mins the whole shebang nearly went through the bandsaw a la Rob! My nice tight dry fit, once given some glue was just too tight to go together (and I also managed to get the top rail the wrong way round and the slight discrepancy in the angles of the drill holes made it impossible to get together).

So with glue on my hands, tears in my eyes and bile tripping from my tongue at a rate of knots my better half heard the screams and came to assist. Between us we got it all apart, right way round and back together inside 5 mins, although the domino's still needed the assistance of a 2lb lump hammer to 'convince' them they wanted to mate... ;)

Anyhoo, it all turned out okay and after making sure I had all my parts properly marked for the headboard we end up with these...

Image

The next job was to sort out the side rails, so after marking out the 5deg angle on one end I then fashioned the Trimble Patented guide rail system for my El Cheapo cordless circ saw, which in fairness did a grand job...

Image

Once one end of each was cut I then measured, checked and repeated appx 10 times to make sure I had it right before setting the saw to the other end. I cut both ends of both boards at the same time, keeping the boards clamped together the whole time, to ensure any slight discrepancy in angle wouldn't matter, but as it was they were all bang on.

Here's the headboard with a foot being tested for fit (bottom right of the pic)

Image

Next came the side rails curves which were done using a piece of flexible plumbing pipe bent to the right height in the middle of the arc and drawn with a pencil. Once cleaned up with the spokeshaves (done together again to ensure symmetry) they turned out okay looking so I didn't bother with anything more scientific.

Image

Image

After marking up and cutting the leg rail Dom's (for alignment and taking the weight of the side rails), spot the deliberately misplaced dom holes in the left hand leg, just to give you all a smile you understand ;),

Image

Then cutting the dom's in the side rails, and the forstner holes for the half moon bed bolts to sit in, and the hole through the rail for the bolt...

Image

It was time to mark the holes in the legs for the threaded inserts to take the bolts. This was done by sticking a 10mm dowel pin into the hole drilled for the bolt (you can see this in between the dom holes in the shot of the end rail above). Then a dry fit of the side rail to the end board, bit of pressure and the dowel pin is left stuck in the leg...

Image

These were then drilled out to 13mm and the threaded inserts sunk in straight. The forstner holes and the bolt holes in the side rails were drilled at 5deg off the horizontal so that when pulled together (due to them being towards the top of the rail) the main pressure would pull the top of the joint together and the cantilever action would push the bottom of the joint together (in theory...) :? .

Hope that makes sense, I know what I mean anyway ;)

Image

And here they are all drilled and inserted

Image

The next job was to add some runners on the inside of the side rails to rest the slats on. Note the 5deg angle planed onto the top to take into account that the rails cant out by the same 5deg.

Image

The ends were tidied up after this shot before being dom'd to the sides.

Image

Image

Image


Now we come to the money shot, assembly in situ!!! Here's the headboard with the bolts inserted and the dom's (dry fit only as they are just to take the vertical weight and can be removed in the unlikely event it ever needs to be flat packed).

Image

One side rail attached and bolted in place

Image

Image

Then both rails

Image

Then the foot board

Image

Image

Then slid into place (I was doing this myself while the better half was feeding the bairns)

Image

And the young recipient couldn't wait to have a climb

Image

Image

Forgot to get a shot of the slats being screwed in place but they were just 23mm pine rough sanded down to 120g and all arrises broken with the block plane, no finish on these.

Then it was mattress and bedding on and here we are with new owner (and her little brother getting in on the act) testing it out for size...

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Again the eagle eyed (or just not blind) among you will notice the other deliberate mistake I put in there, which was to measure all the holes for the spindles on the footboard but somehow managing to get the central one wrong (on the footboard only) and it is 10mm too far one way at the bottom end. I contemplated drilling, plugging and re-drilling but in the end thought I might do more damage than good so decided it was an acceptable loss and carried on :(

Obviously the acorns are missing and as I say I will be doing these over the coming days but want to take my time and get some more lathe practice in so I get them right. As always your comments and critique on any aspects are welcomed and positively encouraged :D

Cheers for looking

Mark


PS And one final blooper for you to laugh at, don't, whatever you do, forgett to change the depth on your domino cutter when you change wood thicknesses, then proceed to press down on the workpiece from above, when working on your cast iron tablesaw top or you get this.....

Image

Image

:shock: :x :oops: :roll: :D
Cheers
Mark
TrimTheKing
Site Admin
 
Posts: 7567
Joined: 16 Jun 2014, 13:27
Location: Grappenhall, Cheshire
Name: Mark

Re: Daughters' Bed Build - COMPLETE (Well almost)

Postby Woodbloke » 22 Jul 2014, 11:36

Nice job and a great WIP. The goofs at the end remind me of someone I know :mrgreen: - Rob, aka 'woodbloke'
I no longer work for Axminster Tools & Machinery.
User avatar
Woodbloke
Sequoia
 
Posts: 5866
Joined: 22 Jul 2014, 10:06
Location: Salisbury, UK
Name:

Re: Daughters' Bed Build - COMPLETE (Well almost)

Postby Rod » 22 Jul 2014, 12:02

Looks good , nice work - I thought the holes were to allow for a top bunk when more children come along? :)

One thing I've learnt, having spent many hours reading bedtime stories in uncomfortable positions, is to have a bed wide enough to lie in with them - But then you generally fall asleep too? :)

Rod
User avatar
Rod
Old Oak
 
Posts: 4471
Joined: 21 Jul 2014, 21:34
Location: Winchester, Hampshire
Name:

Re: Daughters' Bed Build - COMPLETE (Well almost)

Postby Andyp » 22 Jul 2014, 19:23

Nice one Mark, were you still making this while setting up the forum?
I do not think therefore I do not am.

cheers
Andy
User avatar
Andyp
Petrified Pine
 
Posts: 11718
Joined: 22 Jul 2014, 07:05
Location: 14860 Normandy, France
Name: Andy

Re: Daughters' Bed Build - COMPLETE (Well almost)

Postby Andyp » 22 Jul 2014, 19:25

Rod wrote:One thing I've learnt, having spent many hours reading bedtime stories in uncomfortable positions, is to have a bed wide enough to lie in with them - But then you generally fall asleep too? :)
Rod


HeHe been there many times
I do not think therefore I do not am.

cheers
Andy
User avatar
Andyp
Petrified Pine
 
Posts: 11718
Joined: 22 Jul 2014, 07:05
Location: 14860 Normandy, France
Name: Andy

Re: Daughters' Bed Build - COMPLETE (Well almost)

Postby TrimTheKing » 22 Jul 2014, 19:30

Andyp wrote:Nice one Mark, were you still making this while setting up the forum?


Haha, no Andy, this was finished ma couple of years ago. I just wanted to put something into the WIP section to get it going. :)

Mark
Cheers
Mark
TrimTheKing
Site Admin
 
Posts: 7567
Joined: 16 Jun 2014, 13:27
Location: Grappenhall, Cheshire
Name: Mark

Re: Daughters' Bed Build - COMPLETE (Well almost)

Postby Andyp » 22 Jul 2014, 20:05

Thought it looked famiar. How has it stood up to daily child use?
I do not think therefore I do not am.

cheers
Andy
User avatar
Andyp
Petrified Pine
 
Posts: 11718
Joined: 22 Jul 2014, 07:05
Location: 14860 Normandy, France
Name: Andy

Re: Daughters' Bed Build - COMPLETE (Well almost)

Postby TrimTheKing » 22 Jul 2014, 20:11

Couple of pen marks where she managed to sneak felt tips past the Bedtime Patrol, but other than its as good as new.

Still not finished the bloody acorns though... :oops:
Cheers
Mark
TrimTheKing
Site Admin
 
Posts: 7567
Joined: 16 Jun 2014, 13:27
Location: Grappenhall, Cheshire
Name: Mark


Return to Projects & WIP

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests