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For the top, bottom and shelf assemblies, I made some minor
design changes to allow for knock-down assembly. Specifically,
I added frame members that will support the knockdown bolts
(called bolt-mounting plates in the cut list).
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mounting plates were attached behind the shelf stiffeners
to the backrest stiffeners to allow for the knockdown
bolts to attach through the plates and into the side panels.
The connections of the bolt mounting plates to the shelves
were strengthened with screws and taper-cut plugs. In
the above sketch, the holes show the approximate size
of the knockdown bolt heads, not the drill holes. |
These
pieces of cherry became the mechanism that makes the bed knockdown;
however, there was a tradeoff. Since the plan instructs that
the shelves be installed using shelf pins and pre-drilled
holes, you can put the shelves where you want them, but with
this changed design, the shelves are in fixed locations because
they add critical structural rigidity to the bed.
Before assembly, I finished and protected each piece using
four coats of kid-friendly wiped-on water-based polyurethane.
For the assembly, the challenge with doing knockdown was aligning
all the mounting hardware to permit everything to line up.
Also challenging was the fact that I was dealing with 7' tall
sides nearly 2' wide, and with tops, bottoms, and shelves
that were nearly 4' long.
I simplified the process by using the top and bottom pieces
as alignment templates for my drilling and assembly. I drilled
the 9mm clearance holes in the horizontal mounts in the top,
bottom, bed-rest top and bottom and the three shelves. I placed
one side of the case flat on the floor, positioned
each of the pieces, and then used an 11/32" transfer
punch to precisely transfer the mounting hole position to
each location on the carcass side, pinpointing an exact location
to drill the holes for the insert nuts that would hold the
shoulder bolts. I then drilled a set of 8mm holes for the
insert nuts. Using wax on the insert nuts and a ratchet with
an 8mm hex bit made it much easier to insert the nuts into
the cherry. Once the insert nuts were in place, the top, bottom,
bed-rest top and bottom and shelves could all be attached
to the first side of the case. The entire project was then
turned over, squared up and the transfer punch was used to
define the positioning holes for the opposite case side.
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