Loft Bed

corners lapped so that the rails rest on and are locked in place with the head and foot boards.  All the construction grade lumber made a few passes through the planer and jointer to make clean faces for gluing and fitting.  Double check this cheap wood for staples and other foreign materials. The 2x6 rails also have dados cut to allow tenons for the support braces to rest in.   This was cut on the table saw with the stack-able dado blade using the miter gauge to maintain the square. The corners are pulled tight when assembled using 1/8" aluminum angle secured to the rail and machine screws in to the ends.  This pulls the 2x6 lapped joints snug.  The decorative 1x6 rails are mortise and tenon in to the legs on the end.  This prevents the lapped joint from gaining any leverage on the legs.

  Here you can see the legs are a 1x6 fit into a groove the full length of a 1x8.  This 3/4" wide groove was cut with a dado set on the table saw.  A careful arrangement of feather boards and fences assured a straight even depth.You can also see the cross members resting in the structural rails. These are also lapped joints making the core bed frame very sturdy.  The decorative outer rail is not in place yet so the mortises in the legs are visible still.    At the point the photo was taken no

glue or pins had been used yet.  The head and foot boards are integrated with the legs. The horizontal 2x6 lumber structural frame is glued to the decorative 1x6.  The 1x6 has tenons fit into mortises on the legs.  To the right is an out side view, and below is the inside view of the end and leg assemblies.The decorative outer bed rails are glued to the inner 2x6.  The inner lumber fits into the lapped joint for the frame on the endboard.  The decorative rail fits into the mortise on the leg.  This feature makes assembly a bit tedious  but the end result is a very sturdy construction that can be disassembled, moved and reassembled by one person.

You can see the 4" dust/chip collection hose running from the table saw here.  All of my shop equipment connect to a 4" line, but the table saw uses a 4" line on the bottom for chips and a Shop-Vac out the back for dust. This combination works well for controlling the mess a dado blade makes.  I used straps and clamps throughout assembly to keep everything true and square.  The guard rails are fixed to the outside of the legs with the end rails glues and the long side rails having nut inserts and machine screws.  These rails are on the out side of the legs to allow a box spring to set inside on them later.

 The legs have the same fluted design as the bookshelf. Using a sled for the plunge router and a straight bit, I cut these into the four legs.  The legs are capped with a 'L' shaped piece of pine cut on the band saw and shaped on the router table. All the edges with knocked down with a chamfer bit or belt sander.   This is the first project I used my new Craftsman Professional random orbit sander while finishing.  This sander coupled with a Shop-Vac left no mess behind.  I was pleasantly amazed to see the dust collection features work so well.

The ladder is poplar for strength.  Simple dados in the verticals for the rungs to glue in. (Getting the angles right between the sliding miter saw and the table saw miter gauge might have taken two tries.) The top step in wider to allow it to rest on the bed rail.  A piece of aluminum angle under the top step rests over the bed rail holding the ladder firmly to the bed. Next is to replace the red dresser with a matching piece for this set...