I would like to put a Murphy bed in my room so I have been looking at Murphy bed hardware kits and from what I can tell looking around the net this one seems to be the best....
Someone just asked about this in another thread:
Hello Chris W, I took your tip in the "CAD Learning" thread and signed up for the free Alibre Express program. Maybe you could draw one up and post the file here if it's not to big. I think some folks get a bit PO'd at big posts in this ng.
I have been looking into a wall bed project too. Kinda looks like the Create-A-Bed kit is a good way to go.
Thanks for the tip, Pat Jr.
Not sure when I will be buying the kit, but as soon as I do I would be happy to draw it up in 3D and post the model on a web site. If someone has plans they can send me I will draw it up from them. One nice thing about Alibre is it has a 3rd party tool (model press publisher and viewer) that lets you share the 3D model in a view / measure only mode. The viewer part is a free download. I wish this kind of thing were more standard though. I think there should be a world wide standard for sharing 3D models that was a default plug in for any web browser. But this thing is better than nothing. It runs great as a standalone program and version of the model it creates is really small so no huge downloads and it runs OK inside IE but not worth it to me. I just run it off line. No plug in for fire fox last I checked and it only runs on windows.
Several years ago I built a Murphy bed using the wallbed kit (I think
-- I seem to recall a place in Kentucky or Tenn where I got it, but cannot remember for sure -- I seem to recall a price about half the current price)
The kit has two pistons and two sets of sturdy metal plates with the hinge and piston mounts on them. Very sturdy.
Rather than build the bed as per 'normal' plans since the room had an alcove in which the bed would just fit and could be covered, I simply made the bed. For the base, I used the metal rails from the hollywood frame I was replacing and screwed the support that normally goes under the mattress to it. Only a small amount of wood was used -- 12 in by
12 in plates to connect the metal plates in the kit to the metal rails and a headboard (normal height) with 12 inch sides coming forward to support the other metal plate and the mount for the air piston.Althought the plans seem to give some distances for the distance from the hinge to the piston mount, it may take a bit of playing with as it obviously depends on the weight of the mattress and support. I fine tuned it with a couple of two pound weights at the end of the bed.
A good welder and I say good as the kit was made of 1/4 in steel, could make the kit for much less. I don't know the strength of the pistons
-- I attempted to compute what would be reqauired and came up with several hundred pounds. I attempted to measure the piston, but it maxed out the bathroom scales I had at 300 pounds.
The pistons have facinated me for a couple of other projects and have yet to find a good source for them. NAPA does carry some, but no specs.
My murphy bed is used only on an intermitant basis. I am most happy with it.
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