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| Hello,
I am in the process of building a bunkbed for my son. I am basing my build on the design in the attached image as it looks simple and solid. I am building it as two separate, stackable beds. The posts (vertical supports) are made of 1 1/2 X 2 1/2 stock and I am in a quandary about this: how do I fasten the two units together. A dowel inserted into the bottom/top of each post seems like a fair solution, but might not be as solid as something that actually fastens the two units together. One design I came up with is a sort of keyhole in top/bottom of each post with an allen screw and nut in each, pulling the two sides together but this seems somewhat unsightly. Anyone have any other ideas? Thanks so much for any thoughts! Dave St Paul, MN [url]http://www.simplybunkbeds.com/twin-over-twin/wood-bunk-beds/ethan twinovertwinbunkbed2freemattresses.cfm[/url] |
Here is a link that might be useful: My design based on this bunkbed
Follow-Up Postings:
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| A dowel is fairly standard. I wouldn't have any qualms about dowels. If they were dangerous at all you'd never seen them used in commercially available bunk beds due to liability. I grew up in doweled bunks. Still have them at our lake house. |
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| Dowels and gravity work just fine. |
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| Thanks for the replies. The consensus seems to be that the dowels will do the trick. This is exactly what I needed. Would you recommend a standard smooth dowel as available at hardware/home improvement stores or a "fluted/spiraled" one as available for cabinet making? |
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| Standard dowels about one inch in diameter work just fine. They do not have to be glued in, so fluted and spiraled does not matter. Commercial bunk beds often come with both dowels and decorative caps (with shorter dowels to hold them in place) if you ever want to use the beds unstacked. It also allows both beds to be identical (dowel holes in the top and bottom of each post). |
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- Posted by bobsmyuncle (My Page) on Sat, Oct 23, 10 at 16:49
| If you are having problems finding large enough dowel pins, you can also use metal dowels (aka metal rod) |
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| "If you are having problems finding large enough dowel pins, you can also use metal dowels (aka metal rod)" I would stay away form metal unless you use about th esame diameter (3/4 to 1 inch) as a wood dowel. While the metal wil be way stronger than needed (a 1/4 inch or even 1/2 inch would be strong enough) a small metal insert can easily exceed the crush rating of the wood it is on. |
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- Posted by Aclywelding (My Page) on Fri, May 27, 11 at 23:00
| Sorry that I`m only specialized metal bunk beds for school and military, and couldn`t make any suitable suggestions. |
Here is a link that might be useful: ACLYWELDING
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