Bed stretch project

[Cord]

Here's a bit of a different project. My wife saw this bed at an antique store and the price and style was right, but it was a full not the queen she wanted. She asked if i could help and I was happy to oblige. The bed was both too narrow and too short so I had to stretch it in both dimensions. It turned out to be a bit more involved because I didn't think about how many welds would be required. In all, it was 28 butt welds with a few extra when I decided to reinforce the rails.

Finished pictures were supposed to be taken last night, but storms prevented that from happening. I'll try to get some tonight.

 

[Cord]

Working on the bed rails

 

[Cord]

I wasn't satisfied with the torsional stength of the rails so I decided to add a second piece of angle to the underside. The orignal angles were 1.5"x1/8 L and I added some 1" angle inside of it. Made a big difference in strength.

 

[Cord]

Working on patching the head and foot bars back in. I split the rails in two places so the pattern would remain symmetrical. This means I ended up with 4 welds at the top bar, 4 welds at the bottom bar x2 for the head and foot.

 

[Cord]

Working on the paint. I primed the piece and then sanded out the primer at the welds to fill in the last of the scratches. Primed again and then painted it using a Rustoleum hammered gloss white. Once this paint dried for several days, I then mixed a glaze with a dove gray. The glaze was rubbed over the entire frame and then the excess was wiped off. This gave the frame a distressed look with some extra shadows in the castings.

 

[dieselscout80]

Great work. :thumbsup:

 

[dragoneggs]

Nicely done, Cord! Great idea on how to position and hold the tube in line with the existing members. Thanks for sharing! :thumbsup:

 

[Gordon Gould]

Yes very nicely done indeed. You know what they say - You've made your bed now you will have to lie in it.

gg

 

[3Ts]

Very nice and I like your paint job. I'll have to try it on a project I'm working on. However, a question, when you added the 1" angle on the inside of the bed rails - doesn't the bed slats or box springs sit on those? Meaning, how is the mattress held up?

 

[two_bit_score]

Very nice work. Bet some of that took a little bit of patience.

I hope you got to buy a new welder or something for all of that.

:drink:

 

[Cord]

Very nice and I like your paint job. I'll have to try it on a project I'm working on. However, a question, when you added the 1" angle on the inside of the bed rails - doesn't the bed slats or box springs sit on those? Meaning, how is the mattress held up?

I would have thought the slats would lay inside the angles as well. It would help locate them so the slats wouldn't fall off. We'll the ends of the rails have the cast iron keys that position the angles turned down, not up. Therefore the slats sit on top of the angles. I'll decide later if I want to mechanically fasten the slats to the rail.

 

[Cord]

Very nice work. Bet some of that took a little bit of patience.

I hope you got to buy a new welder or something for all of that.

:drink:

Actually, it's more about justifying the gear that I currently have. I did score a MK spool gun yesterday, but it's for an aluminum project that I have. Picked up a nice flat bed two place trailer that suffered for some serious dielectric corrosion. It'll be a project for sure, but we'll get it.

 

[Big Barn]

Very nice job of finding something you like and modifying it to make it work for you!

 

[MinnesotaDaveChalmers]

Very nicely done, creative solution - I like it

 

[two_bit_score]

Actually, it's more about justifying the gear that I currently have. I did score a MK spool gun yesterday, but it's for an aluminum project that I have. Picked up a nice flat bed two place trailer that suffered for some serious dielectric corrosion. It'll be a project for sure, but we'll get it.

We do what we gotta do. :thumbsup: