Loft Bed #2: wedged half dovetail and a concept assembly

I like the look of what you’ve come up with! My wife and I have been contemplating something similar for our son. I haven’t done any Sketchup work on it yet (and it looks like your skills far surpass mine in that arena).

-- Robb

Robb,

If you’re interested I’ll be posting the sketchup model here. I was waiting until I had something more finished but I’ll put up a work in progress copy tonight. There’s enough to spin it around and get some good ideas of the size and configurations.

Eventually I’ll have the design complete with dimensions and I’ll post the finished model.

Here’s a work in progress copy of the sketchup model

I like the wedge half dovetail. I think it is interesting. I was thinking about the end rails, and how about doing a little bit of a dovetail on the end- it would help keep the piece together and might be something interesting to try. I have quickly put my thought into sketchup, and from there to a photo in the hope that it make this clear. I have to echo that your sketchup skills far outstrip my own…
Oh, and as someone that had a loft I would recommend that you put some kind of overhead light in there (I used a 12” fluorescene) otherwise they can feel like a cave, which is nice sometimes but can be a bit of a bear.

Chris,

I already considered a dovetailed end rail. I like the aesthetics of the dovetail and I like the way it locks the end rail into the post.

What I am afraid of is the weight of someone climbing on the end rail puts all of the force from the dovetail right in the corner of the dovetail of the post. The long grain of the endrail is side to side so I think that would be plenty strong enough for someone to climb on. BUT, the end grain of the post is vertical and I’m afraid all of the force of the rail dovetail along the long grain of the post would act like a wedge through the long grain and SPLIT the long grain of the post. Might not happen immediately but I’m concerned it might happen over time.

Thanks for the feedback. The dovetail rail looks better and I like the locking better but I’m not sure about the possibility of splitting so I’m keeping that idea on the shelf for now.

A light underneath makes sense, maybe a couple of those 40 or 60 watt bulbs on a goose necks. Something with some cool factor, it is for a pre-teen.

I got to thinking after my previous post, maybe a dovetail on the top of the rail and a flat bottom on the bottom of the rail. That would still give some locking of the rails but not have the wedge effect of the dovetail on the bottom, hmm, have to think about that some.

I like your idea of the half dovetail- it would add some interest and keep it strong. You could also make the dovetail only through half of the rail to provide the greatest strength where there would have the greatest force. Good call on the goose necks- I was kind of a dork so a fluorescent was perfect for me… Also, if you can paint the bottom white (possibly just the bottom of the slats) it will help lighten it. You have a really cool plan going here.

Chris