Lee Valley Tools Woodworking Newsletter
Vol. 3, Issue 3
January 2009
 
Building a Murphy Bed
 



This next step differs from the plan. The spring box hardware attaches to the carcass sides, but because the carcass is frame and panel, the screw holes for the spring-box hardware would land in the middle of the 1/4" plywood floating panel. So, I took two small pieces of 3/4" Baltic birch plywood laminated with cherry veneer and screwed the spring box mounting plates to the carcass sides. These became the attachment points for the hardware. The Baltic birch pieces needed to be the exact same shape as the hardware or difficulties would have arisen when attaching the cabinet face to the bed frame. (Follow the directions for the spring box hardware: take off the sides and use these as a template to trace the outline on the spring box mounting plates.) As the bed opens and closes, the cabinet face has to swing through space inside the carcass. If the attachment plywood plate is not shaped exactly the same as the folding hardware, the face will interfere with the plywood plate.

The carcass top and bottom needed to be cut to the same width as the measured dimension of the bed frame plus the spring box hardware.
That width, plus 1-1/2" for the width of the two pieces of Baltic-birch plywood used for the folding hardware mounts, became the width of the top and bottom, the three shelves, the carcass rails and the backrest assembly.
I used 3/4" cherry plywood for the carcass top and bottom, since those pieces would be edged by solid cherry. I ensured the horizontal supports for the case bottom were very shallow in profile to allow for clearance between the bottom and the carcass front as the bed swings open and closed.
The horizontal pieces of the carcass top and bottom are attached using biscuits, as per the plan.

  Adjusted carcass bottom
  A sketch of the adjusted carcass bottom showing the mounting plate with bolt holes.
The shelves and shelf stiffeners were made from solid cherry, which provides strength and protection from sagging. I staggered the depth of the shelves; the top shelf is 2" shallower than the bottom shelf, providing increased storage.
The carcass and bookshelves are built deeper, but, unfortunately, I forgot to make the top and bottom of the backrest assembly a little deeper, resulting in it being slightly shallow. The bottom backrest supports should have been made about 2" deeper to move the bottom of the backrest out and closer to the bed frame. I used 3/4" cherry plywood for the front of the backrest and edged the plywood with a strip of waste cherry.

 
 
                   
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