Bunkbeds!

[freedomlives]

This is my first real project using mostly the Shopsmith.

Finished bunk beds

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The boards (siberian spruce) came planed. Used the shaper for rounding the edges, ripped a couple of boards, disc-sander in a few places, and drilled all the dowels using the horizontal drill press mode.

For the latter my four year old son helped me-- I held the boards in place while he pulled the handle to drill the holes.

I used spacer blocks to repeatable offset dowel holes on 30mm centers.

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My happy helper

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I didn't have a wide enough clamp to hold the headboards together while the glue on the dowels dried, so I made two using threaded rod and some flat bar as well as a tie-down strap.

the threaded rod touched the wood in some places and left marks. if I were doing it again and concerned about the marks, I would slip vinyl tubing over the threaded rods.

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The only non-shopsmith stationary tool used was a miter saw to cut the boards to length. As well, I used my Taig lathe to round the ends of 4 inch 10mm diameter aluminium "dowels" I made for supporting the bed-frame rails as I want it to be possible to take apart but I felt like unglued 1-3/4 inch dowels would not be enough there.

Taig lathe "SPT"

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assembling it in the room. a machine screw grabs into a cylinder nut in each frame rail to hold it together

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[nuhobby]

Great project! Envious of all your tools....

It brings back fond memories of sleeping in a bunk-bed as a youth myself!

Chris

[ERLover]

There is something about kids and bunk beds they love. Like, as kids getting a large box that the washer/drier/frig came in and made a fort out of. A right of passage as kids. Nice job on the assembly and overall project!!

[freedomlives]

the great thing is that my kids were co-sleeping with my wife until the day of the bunkbed. I don't think they would have left that arrangement to sleep in ordinary beds on their own. Wife is happy, since she is due with number three any day now and she doesn't want to share the bed with three kids!

[garys]

That is a nicely done project and so useful. A few years ago I built a wallbed in our spare bedroom. The room is seldom used as a bedroom and our house is small so my Wife wanted to be able to use the room for a sewing room most of the time. Replacing the old standard bed with a folding wall bed effective gave us an extra room and at a far lower cost than adding onto the house to get that extra room.
Bunk beds free up floor space and kids love them. Win, Win.

[freedomlives]

Do you have plans / pictures of the fold up bed you made?

[garys]

The wall bed I built uses a hardware kit from Rockler.
http://www.rockler.com/side-mount-murph ... elect-size

The finished bed can be whatever design you want using the plans that come with the hardware kit. I built mine like the attached photo.

[berry]

I remember making bunk beds in about 1984. It was my first real project with the SS. Feels good doesn't it? I have now grandchildren so it sits unused now.

[Bruce]

I remember making bunk beds in about 1984. It was my first real project with the SS. Feels good doesn't it? I have now grandchildren so it sits unused now.

Same here. Although I'm thinking about setting them up for the grand-kids to use when visiting.

[beeg]

I remember making bunk beds in about 1984. It was my first real project with the SS. Feels good doesn't it? I have now grandchildren so it sits unused now.

HAHAHA Same here at about the same time.