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DerbyDad03 DerbyDad03 is offline
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Default Ideas for stabilizing a four poster bed?

On May 27, 12:25*pm, julvr wrote:
Metal tends not to wear over time, but wood does. *You'll have to
inspect the bed closely to see what your root cuase is. *From your
description, you have one of a few possible situations:

1) the metal hooks or the pins have become loose, creating play

Solution: replace the hardwa *if it is a screw that's loose, use a
longer/wider screw. *If the pins are loose, try using larger diameter
pins (redrilling is necessary). *If neither work, remove the hooks and
pins, go to your local big orange store, and buy some new hardware.

Solution 2: drill shank holes in the post, and guide holes in the
rail, and attach the rail using really long screws. *This is not
ideal, as you will have play again in 5 or 6 years.

2) the wood where the bed post meets the rail is worn

If this is the case, it's due to a not-so great design of the bed.
Completely replacing the hardware is a good idea again. *You can also
try to resquare the wood, and attach a piece of aluminum to replace
the thickness lost due to the cut (only if you have a tablesaw or RAS
saw -- I don't recomend this otherwise!).

Check out this for an idea for hardwa

http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/pa...&cat=3,40842,4...

John


re : If neither work, remove the hooks and pins, go to your local big
orange store, and buy some new hardware

Does your local big orange store carry bed hardware? I don't think
mine does.

I searched for bed hardware on their website and got a whole bunch of
door knobs and a few pick-up truck tool boxes.

I would also avoid surface mounted bed fasteners such as the ones at
the Lee Valley site.

I've built all of the beds in my house (2 sets of bunks, standard and
L-shaped, and a queen size bed) I've tried various types of surface
mount bed fasteners and have never been happy over the long term.
They're really easy to install, but they just don't hold as tight.

I eventually replaced all of the fasteners with these and haven't had
a problem since:

http://images.rockler.com/rockler/im...589-01-500.jpg

Yes, I had to rout out the recesses, but now that they're installed,
it takes a rubber mallet to assemble/dis-assemble the bed. Once I made
the jigs for the rails and end-boards, the routing took a matter of
minutes.