Arched Bed #10: Break Down Joinery

Where to begin? This time around I thought I’d start at the end then show how I got there. Kind of like one of my favorite books once said, you start by knowing you’re already there. Well enough of philosophy. So often I see bed designs but there are no photos of the connector system of the side rails to the head and foot board. To me this is the most interesting part. Most of the time people use the standard bed brackets as I did on my first bed. This time around I wanted to try something different and I think I may have stumbled on to something. This design uses counter top bolts and metal pins and sleeves. The holes have to line up perfectly with no room for error. Fortunately I have a jig which made this a cinch.

The idea is to be able to easily break the bed down into its component parts and be able to put it back together so it is solid and stable. I think these first two pictures nicely sum up the challenge.

The top photo is the footboard to side rail. The second photo is the side rail to the headboard post. You can see metal sleeves in both the footboard and headboard parts. The pins are 1/4” and will be glued in to each side rail. The metal sleeves (spacers) are glued in to the head/footboard. The purpose of the metal sleeves is to help reduce wear and tear on the wood. Next time I think I’ll put the sleeves in both parts.

The idea is to cut matching holes in the two conecting parts that are the same distance from the top and the exact same distance apart on center. Here’s a shot of the original idea in Sketchup.

And here are a couple of shots of the results. The joints are incredibly strong and fit together easily . Next time I will break down the process of this break down joint.

-- tim hill www.newcalshop.com