I like the idea. I have another bed to make for one of my grandson. I like
the design that allows me to dry fit all the parts and then take everything
apart for transport It is surprising how much I can put in the trunk of
my car with the rear seats down.



"Lowell Holmes" wrote in message
news:[email protected]

wrote in message
...
I like the idea of single dovetail.
Its just that for me the tooling I have was better suited hidden sluts
and dowels.
Maybe after making the proper fixture to use with the standard router I
can using the single dovetail system.
Conversely, it may be about time that I get a dedicated shaper with
ground cast iron table or make a proper routing table.

I should have said 3/4" slats. :-)
Actually no fixtures are required. You cut the dovetails in the end of the
board with a hand saw. A cheap pull saw will do the job. I prefer the
English saws. but that's beside the point.

To lock the slats in place, make 1" wide blocks 2' - 3' long, what ever
the slat spacing dictates. Cut the ends of these spacing blocks to the
same angle as the dovetail and it becomes part of the joint. I usually use
1:6 rise on the angles.
If these don't fit up perfectly, it doesn't matter, but I predict after
you cut 3 or 4, you will be pleased. The spacer blocks should be the same
thickness as the slats. I screw the spacer blocks in place with # 10
counter sunk wood screws, maybe 4 to a block.

On Sat, 1 Sep 2007 13:33:50 +0100, "Dave Gordon" [email protected] wrote:

"DerbyDad03" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Aug 30, 7:50 pm, "Dave Gordon" [email protected] wrote:
"dwolf" wrote in ...

"John" wrote in messagenews:[email protected] .com...
On Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:41:17 -0400, "dwolf"
wrote:

Making a bed where no box spring will be used.. For years I have always
opted for using a maple plywood platform over using slats... I guess the
original decision came from one... slats do take a lot of wood.. and my junk
bed at home, which is old but has maple slats that do sag.. so on my beds I
use the rails around the bed and then install 3 beefy rails across the bed
and lay the plywood on top... Queen bed..
What's your approach ??

Joel

If you use slats, sure to attach them to the side rails - I've been
dumped out of bed in the middle of the night when an unattached slat
slipped from a side rail. The current bed frame is metal with a
support in the middle of it.

And remember that kids play under anything that is high enough to
wiggle under. There was a death in the area this week when a group
of kids was playing and jumping on a bed and it collapsed on the
six-year-old girl who was under it. I don't have details on the bed,
just the family.

John

Apologies if this point has already been made - I've only just seen the latest posting.
Remember to consider how you would dismantle and move the bed if you moved house. Slats fold up to
a
small space, plywood doesn't.
Agree about securing them though. It makes them less liable to snap too, if the ends are screwed
into
a rail on the sides of the bed. Or, since the slats don't have to be great wood, you could fit
enough
of them so there isn't a space between them, making them less liable to shift. Still easier to move
around than two 6'x3' sheets of plywood.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Given the choice of moving two 6' x 3' sheets of plywood or the
equivalent square footage of slats, all of which are individually
secured to the rails, which do you think would be easier to dismantle,
carry, load, unload, carry again, and reassemble?

As far as taking up space, two 6' x 3' sheets of plywood will fit just
about anywhere in a moving van, pickup truck, mini van, etc.


Yeah but you can unscrew the slats and roll them up together into a bundle, tie them with a rope or
sump'n. 25 * 6' x 3" should do it.
Of course, this assumes the rest of the bed dismantles....


I have built a couple of custom units - queen sized platform bed with
drawer banks underneath, and the X-braces turned so they are at 90
degrees instead of 45 degrees, for more usable space and maximum
drawer storage.

When I move, the thing that I hate is that the mattress is heavy and
floppy and doesn't have any good way to carry it. Plus it gets dirty
and can tear the cover fabric very easily if you don't wrap it in
plastic. I had the idea of a queen platform bed where the platform
becomes a box to hold the mattress during the move. You can take the
thing into the new room on edge, take the mattress out, set the
platform down, then plop the mattress on top of the platform. The
platform would have to be slightly oversized to accomplish this. Not
sure how that would look.

Bob the Tomato

"Lowell Holmes" wrote in message news:[email protected]
However when the furniture's
remains in the family it's a good feeling to leave marks of good craftsmanship.

I put a 1" wide ledge inside the bed rails and dovetail 1/4 oak slats into the ledge. Easy to move,
easy to assemble or disassemble and they stay in place while being used. The end of the slat is a
single dovetail.
:-)

Now THAT is the way to do it.

"Nova" wrote in message news:[email protected]
wrote:
The purpose of the sluts and dowels were to equally position and prevent the slats from horizontal
movement. Once the mattress are on them, the slats remain in the original location without any
movement. It is like having screws to lock them in place with the advantage that they are easy to
remove and transport. When you change the bed sheet and cover the slats remain in place.
Conversely, in mass production, you could do away with the dowels and location sluts and save time
and effort. However when the furniture's remains in the family it's a good feeling to leave marks
of good craftsmanship.



"Nova" wrote in message news:[email protected]

wrote:


The way I have done the slats is with a 3/8" slut X 1 1/2" lg. x 1/4" deep at each end.

What did the 3/8" slut do with the slats? ;-)

Ahem...

slut - n. 1.a. A woman considered sexually promiscuous. b. A prostitute. 2. A slovenly woman; a
slattern. 3. A female dog. [Middle English slutte.] --slut“tish adj. --slut“tish·ly adv. --slut“tish·ness
n.

slot - n. 1. A narrow opening; a groove or slit: a slot for coins in a vending machine; a mail slot.
2. A gap between a main and an auxiliary airfoil to provide space for airflow and facilitate the
smooth passage of air over the wing. 3.a. An assigned place in a sequence or schedule: a new time
slot for a TV program. b. A position of employment in an organization or a hierarchy. 4. Computer
Science. A socket in a microcomputer that will accept a plug-in circuit board: expansion
slots. --slot tr.v. slot·ted, slot·ting, slots. 1. To cut or make a slot or slots in. 2. To put into
or assign to a slot. [Middle English, hollow of the breastbone, from Old French esclot.]

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA



"What we have here is a failure to communicate!"

Thanks Nova, but I think we already knew the difference (not necessarily from personal experience ;-).
We were just enjoying the fun of transposing the words. We didn't mean anything by it, honest.