Please critique my bed design

[BrentDH]

I am about to start building a bed and just wanted to throw my design out there for comments and see if there is anything I haven't thought of or improvements I could make.

This is a queen sized bed.  The top of the mattress is 27" off the floor.  The overall height of the headboard is 49 3/4" and the footboard is 25 1/2".  The side rails stick 1" above the platform to keep the mattress from sliding around and they are 6 1/2" wide to accommodate the 6" version of the bed rail fasteners shown below.  Which brings me to my biggest question.  Is that 6 1/2" board with those fasteners sufficient to prevent racking?

Any other comments/suggestions are welcome as well.

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[JosephP]

With the post in the middle 6.5" will be good.

Might even consider another rail down the middle to attach that leg to.

You using slats and a box spring? I'm making a king bed. They don't want to plan on box spring so I'm putting slats with 1" spacing to support the mattress. Also thought about just using plywood. I am planning to use a center rail with center leg.

[lift mechanic]

I just finished a 4-poster bed plateform, "California King" size. The bedroom is small so I built 6 drawers on each side of the bed for our clothes, is takes the place of a dresser drawers.

[BrentDH]

I just finished a 4-poster bed plateform, "California King" size. The bedroom is small so I built 6 drawers on each side of the bed for our clothes, is takes the place of a dresser drawers.

I also made one with drawers a couple years ago for a different daughter.  They had the same situation you were referring to - small room with not much room for storage.  I opted for 4 drawers on each side instead of three because I concluded that the drawers closest to the headboard end will likely always be blocked by a nightstand.  I felt that having 25% of the storage difficult to access was better than 33%.  I wasn't nearly as worried about racking on that one because I had over 12" of "rail" width to anchor to each end because that whole drawer assembly was so tall.

On this new one I was trying to convince them to make the design simpler by avoiding the drawers and agreed to make the headboard and foot board a little more difficult with the multiple panel design.

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[Gary G™]

It’s probably just me but 1/4” on each end doesn’t seem sufficient to prevent splitting.
Maybe it is; I often overbuild.

BTW, verify the support requirements from the mattress manufacturer.
Our new king requires a solid surface foundation or it voids their warranty.

[BrentDH]

My intent was to have a solid platform of 3/4" plywood that rests on that lip all the way around.  The dimensions are such that it will likely have to be two pieces and I was going to run them side-to-side rather than front-to-back.  The center post would be at the splice between the two pieces.  There will be no box spring.

[tomsteve]

  The side rails stick 1" above the platform to keep the mattress from sliding around...

might want to go a little more. the mattress on mine sits 2" below the rails.

[KC]

might want to go a little more. the mattress on mine sits 2" below the rails.

Agree with this.  ^^

I've used that style of rail connector several times over the years.  I used to buy them from Woodcraft 20 years ago, and those made a very tight connection.  I used the Rockler item on the last bed I made (king), and wasn't happy with the fit.  They held everything together, but just weren't 'tight'.   Before we moved I had to cut the rails down to fit the bedroom in the new house (two twin mattresses v the king), and I reworked both ends of each rail.  The fit is better, but still not as good as I remember with the Woodcraft set.

[DogwoodTales]

The bed rail hardware I’ve used is linked below. I’ve made two bunk beds for rambunctious kids and 15 years later the beds are still solid with no racking.
In the picture the bracket on the rail is just screwed in place but I mortised mine into the rail and also positioned them just a hair back from the end of the rail so that way the rail and post were pulled together tighter.


https://www.rockler.com/locking-safety-b...SdEALw_wcB

[Don_M]

Feedback and a few comments:

·        Design looks good
·        Material?
·        6” rail - plenty
·        Agree with the center support post – but, as others have suggested, consider a mid-rail (down the center) running the length of the bed frame.  I would also consider two or three cross rails running side-to-side.
·        I would not go with the  inset bed rail fasteners (the ones you have shown) and instead go with the classic, tried, true and traditional bed bolts. Yes – they are a bit more difficult to install BUT, much more secure – and once they are tightened up the bed is going nowhere!
·        Jeff Miller has a good book on beds – if you need a reference.