[Project 48] Black Walnut California King Bed w/ Floating Nightstands

[Spandex]

Is the whole frame going to be glued so it’s a single piece? Or are the loose tenons in the rails and centre support going to be left dry and some fastenings used so it can be dismantled at a later date?

 

[afish]

did you have insperitiation or did you think this up out of whole cloth? Also what do you think of the drill guide you are using and what is it called? I am looking for one.

Cant answer the first part but the drill guide is the Rockler unit (HERE)I have been thinking about getting it just to have.  I like it since its the only one I have seen with a 1/2 chuck.  It has some mixed reviews so Im interested to hear Matts take on it. 

 

[squall_line]

I like it since its the only one I have seen with a 1/2 chuck.

Doesn't the Woodpecker's model have a 1/2" chuck as well?

I don't have either one, nor do I have an affiliation with either one, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

 

[mattbyington]

[member=2242]tallgrass[/member] my wife and I designed the entire thing from the "ground up" in Fusion! We looked at pictures on Pinterest of course but the design is entirely our own. I like the drill guide. It's well made. The reason that I went with this one over the Woodpeckers AutoLine one is that the Rockler one tilts to do angled holes, but the woodpecker one does not.

[member=69273]Spandex[/member] hey! So, it'll be 7 parts in total:

1) Left rail
2) Right rail
3) Footboard (glued solid)
4) Headboard (glued solid)
5) Left nightstand (glued solid)
6) Right nightstand (glued solid)
7) Center support beam

As you've noted, the center support beam and everything comes together with 4x 10mm dominos at each joint where 3" meets 3".

If you look at the pictures I posted, you'll see how I plan to attach the rails to the headboard and footboard. Each joint has 3 dominos spaced out, 10mm, tightest setting. In between these (on either side of the center domino) is a lag bolt, 6", from Rockler (https://www.rockler.com/3-8-diameter-bed-bolt) .

So, 3 dominos and 2 bolts per joint where the rail meets the headboard and footboard. I used the Shaper to drill a square pocket at the precise location to pull everything tight. Needless to say... I am pretty sure it'll be strong as hell.

I haven't decided yet on gluing the slats or not. 17 slats is a lot to line up during a glue up. They are tight during the dry fits. I might just leave them in there without glue and glue the legs to the top and bottom parts that hold the slats in. Everything has either 2 or 4 dominos per joint.

[member=73094]afish[/member] I do like it. It's well made. I'd recommend it.

[member=75217]squall_line[/member] I believe it does, but it doesn't angle - the Rockler one angles. I thought that might come in handy in the future so that's what tipped me toward the Rocker one instead of the WP one.

Matt

 

[mattbyington]

I should note as well - really, the 3 10mm dominos on the rails do all the work with regard to shear strength.

The bolts, while they may add a little bit of shear strength, are really only to keep the joint tight.

Matt

 

[cpw]

You might consider just glueing one side of the slats, so that there is less of a chance of them having any rattle in the future.

 

[tallgrass]

love it. keep up the great work. thanks for the feed back on the drill guide. I will get one.

 

[thender]

I should note as well - really, the 3 10mm dominos on the rails do all the work with regard to shear strength.

The bolts, while they may add a little bit of shear strength, are really only to keep the joint tight.

Matt

Greetings Matt-

When you say "the 3 10mm dominos on the rails do all the work with regard to shear strength" do you mean shear in the vertical direction, or horizontal?

Normally the holes are somewhat longer than the dominos, even when cut with the "tight" setting.  Not much, but a little.

So I'm wondering if your rails will actually bear vertically on the dominos, or on the bolt holes.

Horizontally the dominos will take the load.

Or maybe i don't understand how you intend the joint to function...

Great work and as always thanks for sharing.

 

[tjbnwi]

[member=67555]mattbyington[/member],

Congrats on the upcoming child. Life will get real interesting and time will fly by.

Tom

 

[Spandex]

Greetings Matt-

When you say "the 3 10mm dominos on the rails do all the work with regard to shear strength" do you mean shear in the vertical direction, or horizontal?

Normally the holes are somewhat longer than the dominos, even when cut with the "tight" setting.  Not much, but a little.

So I'm wondering if your rails will actually bear vertically on the dominos, or on the bolt holes.

Horizontally the dominos will take the load.

Or maybe i don't understand how you intend the joint to function...

Great work and as always thanks for sharing.

I think you’re probably correct that the side rails may not rely on the dominos for vertical sheer strength, but the bolts would be more than capable of providing all the strength needed on their own so I’m not sure it will matter much in the end.

 

[mattbyington]

[member=63643]cpw[/member] that is a great idea. We are considering our options. I think the glue up may happen this week. I've been pre-finishing all the slats and well that is a LOT of work as it turns out, haha! Lots of sanding in between coats and I can really only pre-finish 1/3 of them at once because I only made 1 drying rack. But it's OK. Making progress.

I plan to formulate my glue-up strategy this week in my head and then hopefully do it this weekend.

Thanks [member=2242]tallgrass[/member] I think you'll love it.

[member=1583]Tom[/member]  in SoCal hey Tom! Thanks for commenting! So, the rails are 1.25" thick and 11.5" wide and they are "vertical" if that makes sense as the sides of the bed. They slot onto the legs which are 3" square. What I did was cut the 3x 10mm domino mortises on the tightest domino setting both in the leg and on the rail. When I was dry-fitting it, there is pretty much 0 play. It took me a solid minute with a rubber mallet to get the leg to seat onto the rail. It's very, very tight. That, in my mind, was what was really providing the vertical strength. E.g. if you were to sit on the rail for example in between the headboard and footboard, those dominos are what would prevent the rail from falling down to the floor. It does feel very strong to me. The bolts, the holes for the bolts are a little bit oversized from 3/8" in order to get the bolt in and onto the nut that sits in the square pocket. So in my mind, the bolts would be pulling the joint very tight but not really provide a lot of shear strength unless the rail shifted downwards such that the bolt was angled in its oversized mortise and then it would "catch". But that would mean the rail would have slid down 1/8" or so, which it can't do because of the 10mm dominos. I'm hoping this is all making sense. Let me know if you think I missed anything major?

[member=4105]tjbnwi[/member] thank you sir!! I figured...which is why I am trying to get the bed done

[member=69273]Spandex[/member] curious on your thoughts on what I wrote above ^ I am really curious if i am missing something I would love to know. It's also a fun conversation.

Back to work this week - pre-finishing slats and such during the evenings, so hopefully more progress pictures of glue-ups this coming weekend.

Matt

 

[Spandex]

To be honest, I don’t think vertical shear strength is ever really going to be an issue, and the bolts alone, or the dominos alone would be more than up to the task in that respect.

The real issue for a bed frame would be racking of the joints (eg, a horizontal component of a force acting on the joint causing the upright components to rotate off vertical) but the side rails are so deep (combined with the beefy bolts holding them together) that I just don’t see that being remotely possible with this design.

Basically, I think this looks like it’s going to be built like a tank and strength isn’t going to be a problem.

 

[mattbyington]

[member=69273]Spandex[/member] got it, thanks!

We made great progress this past weekend! I decided to put a heavy rabbet on the middle mattress support where the slats will go.

We also got both nightstands and the footboard and headboard glued up!

We decided on glue in the slat mortises on the nightstands, but no glue in the mortises on the headboard and footboard. We had 2 friends over and the 4 of us were able to align the mortises but I'm glad we didn't use glue there, it'll be plenty strong without it and there is very little play if any on the majority of the slats.

Next up is a dry fit and finalizing the slats for the mattress, rounders and finish, and I need to build a couple drawers for the night stands as well.

Matt

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[mattbyington]

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[tallgrass]

I want to see saw dust.  [big grin]

 

[mattbyington]

[member=2242]tallgrass[/member] hahah I'm on it man.

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[mattbyington]

Having trouble posting pictures here recently but this weekend we got the Headboard, Footboard and Nightstands glued up!

Last night we did the first real dry fit so I could measure for the slats and such. A big milestone!

The glue ups were mostly not stressful, but I tell you I really don't want to have to get those 17 slats into their 34 mortises at the same time EVER again.

We landed on glue for the nightstands but didn't use glue in the mortises for the headboard and footboard. It feels PLENTY strong with the slats just wedged into their mortises. There are 6x 10mm dominos for each leg with lots of glue and it feels solid.

Matt

 

[tallgrass]

The reason you can not post is simple. Excessive good work without sufficient examples of pathetic failure and messiness. Also the creation of projects in a clean , orderly and dustless processes.

I like how it is turning out. It is a nice look. What is your intended finish?

I received the drill guide. I do like it. I am machining vacuum plates for it to allow for drilling on sheet goods. thanks for the recommendation.

 

[CeeJay]

Looking fantastic Matt.

When’s it’s oiled it’s going to be stunning.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[woodwise]

Looks amazing, thanks for letting us follow along.