#19
As my "thinking out loud" posts have indicated, I was working on converting the crib I built about five and a half years ago to a bed. My oldest is a very graceful sleeper and is fine in my wife's old daybed. My youngest is a hot mess and sprawls out every which way, making a giant mess of herself, the sheets, the comforter, the pillows, her stuffed animals, everything. She has always seemed to sleep better in a real bed, so I figured it was time. For reference, here was the crib:

[Image: crib.jpg]

Step one was fixing the headboard and footboard. I didn't take pictures, but the front and back were counterbored for screws to hold things together. Bubinga is very hard and dense, and even with pilots drilled screws would snap quite easily. This was fine while it was a crib, but I knew at some point I would have to fix it. With everything disassembled, all of the holes were plugged from both sides. Screw holes were again bored using a drilling jig, and dowels inserted and glued. This at least gave a consistent finished appearance, and I would have a story to tell as to why they were there (should anybody ask). Danish oil was the original finish and being easy to fix was a huge plus - it was not hard to drill new holes (or plug the existing) with dowels, sand, and refinish. I did all of that before building the "platform box" and doing the fasteners.

The plan was always to use drawers. It's a lot of space (seriously, do the math - drawers in a full-size bed is roughly the same storage space as an ordinary chest of drawers). I used two full-length rails with wider "spacers" in between on the edges and in the middle, providing optimal glue contact. Fasteners to the headboard and footboard were Domino Connectors, and I used three on each joint. They are, like most Festool offerings, incredibly easy and appear much stronger and more stable than traditional bed rail joinery. I have zero complaints with this. Here's a preliminary dry fit sort of picture of the build in progress:

[Image: 20220331-163108.jpg]

I used plywood and pine for the interior construction, save for the front board (which would be visible). Not wanting to use a rather expensive bubinga board for this, I opted for a piece of African mahogany I had that was very nice (and I know was not that expensive). You will see later it fits in almost perfectly. As the rails (at least the appearance side) are all bubinga, the drawer fronts are all single-board bubinga. I used to use radiata pine from Home Depot for most drawers, especially drawers of this size, but lumber pricing, especially at box stores, is absolutely insane at this point. So the drawers were constructed of poplar (from the mill, about $3 per board foot) with 1/2" prefinished plywood for the bottoms. I did not finish the drawers since I wanted the most "natural" option for clothing storage and the like. Normally I use shellac and oil scrub, but I thought I'd try something else here. Seemed to work out well.

[Image: 20220429-133130.jpg]

Here's the finished product without full decoration. The slats are just 1x3 knotty pine (cheapest available) which I keep a good supply of. I always pick things to be as straight as possible, so I'm not overly concerned with warping. Especially not with pine bed slats. The finish on the rest is Danish oil with oil scrubs (a mineral oil / mineral spirits / Danish oil mix I use, applied with Scotch-Brite pads), while the drawer boxes (not the bottom) and the slats are unfinished, sanded to 220. If I had to do it again, the drawers would probably be replaced by heavy-duty slides - at this size, even full-extension ball bearing slides are a bit sloppy. They are rated for 50 pounds, but heavy-duty slides go up to 200 pounds or more. At roughly 32"x25"x7", they are pretty big, and could definitely benefit from heavier-duty hardware. They aren't bad, just have more play than I'd like. In any case, here's what it looks like all ready for a three year old's destruction:

[Image: 20220504-191759.jpg]

Some closer detail on the drawers.

[Image: 20220504-191811.jpg]

And finally, the front visible board that's mahogany and not bubinga.

[Image: 20220504-193306.jpg]

I doubt anybody would even notice that, much less care. I'm glad I went with this option rather than sacrifice what would be an almost impossible to replace board for something that isn't front and center. But in any case, it's all done and has been in use for over a week. My wife has pictures of the little one happily using it, and I'm happy to report that the "I need something" bed departures have seemed to decline significantly since she sleeps in this. It's a little sad that my three year old has a nicer bed than I do, but isn't that why we work?
Reply

#20
You did a fabulous job on that. Good job Dad!
Any free advice given is worth double price paid.
Reply
#21
Looks great.

If you hadn't called out that front board as not being the same as the other visible pieces, I never would have guessed it.
Reply
#22
Wow, that's quite a project with a great result. Nice work.
Reply
#23
Great original design, beautiful bed, and awesome redesign.
"I tried being reasonable..........I didn't like it." Clint Eastwood
Reply
#24
Thanks all.

As a reference, I thought I'd include some back of the envelope math on the storage you get from using drawers in beds.

For a full-size bed with my drawer configuration, there is an additional 11.7 cubic feet of usable storage. For a queen size, it would be 14 cubic feet, and for a king size, it would be 17.6 cubic feet.

I do not know whether this drawer configuration would work for a king or even a queen, as they would be about 34" x 34" or so. Accuride does make drawer glides that big (and I'd probably use them for peace of mind in an application that large). 

While it's not immediately clear what the equivalent capacity of a dresser or chest of drawers is, it's probably safe to assume that using a drawer bed gets you anywhere from about a half to a whole additional dresser of storage.
Reply
#25
Great job.  Just Beautiful.  I built pendulum cradles for the first grandchild of each of my four kids, and once the lil'un moved out, the legs and cross braces stored in the basket to wait for brother or sister to arrive.  Never tackled a bed.  Well thought out conversion. 
Big Grin
Jim in Okie
You can tell a lot about the character of a man -
By the way he treats those who can do nothing for him.
Reply
#26
(05-05-2022, 09:07 PM)FS7 Wrote: As my "thinking out loud" posts have indicated, I was working on converting the crib I built about five and a half years ago to a bed. My oldest is a very graceful sleeper and is fine in my wife's old daybed. My youngest is a hot mess and sprawls out every which way, making a giant mess of herself, the sheets, the comforter, the pillows, her stuffed animals, everything. She has always seemed to sleep better in a real bed, so I figured it was time. For reference, here was the crib:

[Image: crib.jpg]

Step one was fixing the headboard and footboard. I didn't take pictures, but the front and back were counterbored for screws to hold things together. Bubinga is very hard and dense, and even with pilots drilled screws would snap quite easily. This was fine while it was a crib, but I knew at some point I would have to fix it. With everything disassembled, all of the holes were plugged from both sides. Screw holes were again bored using a drilling jig, and dowels inserted and glued. This at least gave a consistent finished appearance, and I would have a story to tell as to why they were there (should anybody ask). Danish oil was the original finish and being easy to fix was a huge plus - it was not hard to drill new holes (or plug the existing) with dowels, sand, and refinish. I did all of that before building the "platform box" and doing the fasteners.

The plan was always to use drawers. It's a lot of space (seriously, do the math - drawers in a full-size bed is roughly the same storage space as an ordinary chest of drawers). I used two full-length rails with wider "spacers" in between on the edges and in the middle, providing optimal glue contact. Fasteners to the headboard and footboard were Domino Connectors, and I used three on each joint. They are, like most Festool offerings, incredibly easy and appear much stronger and more stable than traditional bed rail joinery. I have zero complaints with this. Here's a preliminary dry fit sort of picture of the build in progress:

[Image: 20220331-163108.jpg]

I used plywood and pine for the interior construction, save for the front board (which would be visible). Not wanting to use a rather expensive bubinga board for this, I opted for a piece of African mahogany I had that was very nice (and I know was not that expensive). You will see later it fits in almost perfectly. As the rails (at least the appearance side) are all bubinga, the drawer fronts are all single-board bubinga. I used to use radiata pine from Home Depot for most drawers, especially drawers of this size, but lumber pricing, especially at box stores, is absolutely insane at this point. So the drawers were constructed of poplar (from the mill, about $3 per board foot) with 1/2" prefinished plywood for the bottoms. I did not finish the drawers since I wanted the most "natural" option for clothing storage and the like. Normally I use shellac and oil scrub, but I thought I'd try something else here. Seemed to work out well.

[Image: 20220429-133130.jpg]

Here's the finished product without full decoration. The slats are just 1x3 knotty pine (cheapest available) which I keep a good supply of. I always pick things to be as straight as possible, so I'm not overly concerned with warping. Especially not with pine bed slats. The finish on the rest is Danish oil with oil scrubs (a mineral oil / mineral spirits / Danish oil mix I use, applied with Scotch-Brite pads), while the drawer boxes (not the bottom) and the slats are unfinished, sanded to 220. If I had to do it again, the drawers would probably be replaced by heavy-duty slides - at this size, even full-extension ball bearing slides are a bit sloppy. They are rated for 50 pounds, but heavy-duty slides go up to 200 pounds or more. At roughly 32"x25"x7", they are pretty big, and could definitely benefit from heavier-duty hardware. They aren't bad, just have more play than I'd like. In any case, here's what it looks like all ready for a three year old's destruction:

[Image: 20220504-191759.jpg]

Some closer detail on the drawers.

[Image: 20220504-191811.jpg]

And finally, the front visible board that's mahogany and not bubinga.

[Image: 20220504-193306.jpg]

I doubt anybody would even notice that, much less care. I'm glad I went with this option rather than sacrifice what would be an almost impossible to replace board for something that isn't front and center. But in any case, it's all done and has been in use for over a week. My wife has pictures of the little one happily using it, and I'm happy to report that the "I need something" bed departures have seemed to decline significantly since she sleeps in this. It's a little sad that my three year old has a nicer bed than I do, but isn't that why we work?

Looks great!  Bubinga is hard, but not bad to work with. Your photos and comments are very much appreciated.

---
See ya later,
Bill
Reply

#27
(05-07-2022, 08:10 PM)Bill_de Wrote: Looks great!  Bubinga is hard, but not bad to work with. Your photos and comments are very much appreciated.

---
Thanks! I haven't found it to be particularly hard to work with despite its hardness and weight. When I did the crib, I used three different tapped holes on the headboard and footboard (or at least what they are now) and attached turnbuckle hooks to the pine mattress support. This let us go from high (when the baby is little) to medium to low (when the baby isn't a baby any more). I just tapped the wood, and the ones I was using just got a machine screw while the others had a hex set screw to otherwise plug the tapped hole. It was easy to tap and held extremely well. 

The only downside was in attaching the crib sides. You can see from the original picture that there are two screws at the top and bottom of each side, all of which are now plugged. When it was a crib, these were covered with little pyramid caps (pretty neat, actually), but after disassembly I plugged them with dowels and sanded them flush. The problem was that screwing them initially involved several broken screws - the bubinga (and the drill) would snap those things like nothing, even with pilot holes drilled. Then I'd have to use another screw (a tiny trim head, after the first one had broken) to actually secure the thing. So I had a shaft of one screw with a broken head and then an actual screw holding the pieces together. On one of them, I had to lay the headboard on the ground and completely rotate one of the sides to unscrew it. This was the only "good" way to get it off, and even that left a little ring scar from where the broken metal shaft scraped the bubinga post. The remaining broken ones could be removed with vise grips, fortunately.

Honestly the hardest part of converting a crib to a full-size bed (the measurements match up, so it's not that hard) is retrofitting or fixing the headboard and footboard to "undo" the top crib side attachments. The bottom ones are otherwise covered by the bed rails. There isn't really a good way to do it. With a softer wood, it wouldn't be too difficult to use plastic plug caps because you'd have clean holes and a very low (or zero) chance of broken screws. But for some reason this bubinga ate screws for breakfast. I work with technically harder woods on a relatively common basis, and they don't seem to do this. Who knows.
Reply
Bubinga drawer/platform bed


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)

Product Recommendations

Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.