How to make your own bed system for Campervan or motorhome

[Music] hello and welcome to another video today we're going to be looking in depth at how to make this bed pull out system uh since the the the last one of the last videos that went out of me making this setup i did all at a time lapse uh there weren't any measurements to luca and when the video went out there was that many uh requests uh for measurements and how it was done and what materials we use and things like that and i didn't go that in depth in actually to making uh this and how to measure it up and uh put it together and so i'm gonna go into more detail as to what materials i've used um where i've got them from uh little tips and tricks and things like that with this so this is simply going to be focused on how to make this how to make it to your motorhome or your campervan and the sizes that you've got available and you can adapt it and use it because like i said i haven't got any sizes as such for this um because every one i tend to do seems to be different so i'll show you the the way that i set it up and how i made that out so i've got both of these bed slots uh in place now obviously this is what they're gonna look like when they're finished i'm gonna break one of these down uh so you can see the actual construction of it how things are put together and everything else um what the reason i put them in this uh in like this is just to show you as well i've got two separate uh pull outs here and there's a reason for that um this bed is is when it's finished when the cushions run it's gonna be six foot four long which is quite a long bench seat majority of them are gonna be roughly about six foot long um it's a seat it's a bed as well at night time so it's got to be that minimum of six foot um whatever you do and this is a bit of advice i've got off experience as well don't make your bed frame the full six foot long um all the time i mean it'll probably work great straight off but over time um it will weaken and it will bend and you'll get things falling through and it's just not the way to go i've always uh split uh these up even on six foot even some that have been smaller than that i've always put two smaller ones in it gives it that a lot more strength a lot more rigidity um and it will last a hell of a long longer than it would do if you did a full six foot length one it's not only that as well if you're in flight for this this is a micro camper if you're in a tight space as well you're trying to pull a full six foot bed slats out as well you're gonna struggle for room because obviously with this now i can pull that across and i can move out the way and get get the other one across you can't do that when it's a full six foot um so yeah uh that's probably one of the first tips i would uh give you on that side of things but what we'll do now i'll get this on the bench i'll strip it down and we'll start from scratch and i'll show you how to measure up and construct it as well okay so i've just taken the the bed slats off and what we're gonna be making essentially is this it's two frames one that's gonna slide in the other one um if you notice i don't know if you can do one here there's a slot that's cut out at the front to allow that to one but i'll show you how that's put together when we strip this frame down uh the bed slats uh they're really strong beach bed slats they're really nice uh to work with uh these are actually from ikea um they use we used to use i used to use a supply called half-life i think it's pronounced um and they are they're very similar uh bed slat they were a little bit wider but they were a bit quite a bit thinner uh and while they did give you that spring um they weren't that um how can i say they didn't give the strength of these give these are a better quality bed slap by far uh they come in different lengths uh i've had to cut these down the other thing that they do come with they come with a bit of webbing on the back so you've got to take the uh the staples out and the webbing off for that but other than that these are far better bed slap well really do recommend them ones um the timber itself um like i said we've got two frames this middle the inner frame is made out completely of 2x1 and i say 2b1 the actual measurements of this is 18 mil by 43 and then we've got two by uh what sorry a two by one and then a three the one on the front of the and again i say um i say three inches but it's not it's actually sixty [Music] weight sixty 68 mil but you give them what you give them that so it's 2b1 and 3b1 um the majority of it is 2b1 so that inner frame is completely 2b1 so you've got front you've got sands in your back that's all 2b1 um the outer frame on this one again i'll show you when this is broken down but you've got two lengths here 2b1 21 at the back 2b1 there it's just that one frame that one length at the front there on your your outer frame that's 83b1 and that's simply because we have to cut out the uh you can see it comes around it just gives it that strength underneath to allow that to happen otherwise you've no way of making that into a solid frame so that's that's the construction on that basically now then the actual um measurements uh they're pretty easy uh to set up to be honest with you once you know your overall dimensions so you need to know what length you need to make this so for example if you're going up to say a wardrobe petition or a toilet petition down to the back doors or another petition whatever wherever you're placing this for argument's sake let's say that's six foot long you don't like say you don't want to make that the full six foot long you want to break this down into two um on top of that you also need clearance at this end in the middle in between and at the other end as well so you don't want to make these two a full measuring up to six foot long so uh 72 inches you probably want to knock off probably two inches of that so that's going to bring that down then to 70 inches so we're going to have that we're on to 7 35 which fully enough this works out to be 35 inches wide um so that's what we've got there um the depth of it um is slightly slightly more difficult to weigh up so what we'll do we'll nip into the van and i'll show you what i mean by that okay so um we've gone through the the length of it if it's uh 72 inches long not a couple inches off leaving you with 70 inches and then cut that in half and gives you the two bed slats at 35 inches long no then um when it comes to looking at the depth of it you need basically an l-shaped timber frame at the back there now this one is for this one it's further away so normally this would be screwed straight through into your side wall uh you're paneling if you can reinforce that as well to make it nice and strong that'd be great however mine is coming slightly further away from the side because i haven't got a straight edge i've got a door to contend with there as well as well as a tall wheel arch as well so i've got some uh some other extra strengthening rails under there as you can see um so you've got that that's your first thing to to measure to then you're going off the depth um coming again towards this end here you can either sit on the very edge which is the knock on edge in which is is nice and strong and also you've got another timber rail which i've put on here which mine is actually going to be sitting onto that's glued and screwed onto there still nice and strong um you've got um an extra 20 mil or whatever it was to angle over though with the bed so that's why i've set mine slightly further back however in the past i have gone to this knock on edging because it's a nice strong piece as well so it's entirely up to you depending on how you're constructing it so um you're not going like i said to the wall you go into the inside of that rail and that's where your first that's where you're starting from where your measurement so as you can see on that one i'm looking at 17 and a half inches to the outer measurements of my frame on that one so that's that's it basically um you've got to make sure that rail's on first and you've got to know where that bed front is going to land um rule of thumb if you've not got anything um in place at the minute uh on a big bench seat set up i normally do the cushion 27 inches deep because you're going to have a four or five inch back rest leaving you with what 20 to 23 22 inches base which is is more than ample really so rule of thumb i normally do a 27 inch base cushion usually set that frame in an inch or two at least um so you're looking either 25 or 26 inches from uh your back rail as well so uh that's just something to look at but again everybody's conversion is going to be different um and again this is different again because i'm not against the the side completely so yeah straight from from that back rail and then to your inner part where you're going to be um we're going to sit in it and that's how you're going to get your depth okay so i've separated the two frames got rid of the ball bearing runners on the side um on the runner side of things um i would fully recommend using some proper ball bearing runners you can use the drawer runners um you get a bit more noise from them and they'll still do the job but i have found over time they don't last as long as the ball bearing runner so i'd fully recommend using these ones um a little trick if you haven't used these before if you fully extend you'll see a little catch there that you can push in and you can remove part of that so then you can uh screw that to your inner frame and you're ready to frame separately if needs be if you're struggling doing it all together that's just another little thing if you haven't used them before right okay so the outer frame we know that the length of it is going to be 35 inches long which we've got the depth from what we measured just inside the 17 and a half inches so we've got our overall full dimensions now the construction of this like i said is 2b1 so we've got a full rail on the back there we've got two pieces here screwed together uh i don't know if you can see that on there i've got them glued and screwed together uh that's just the best the beef up that ends um so we can get a decent sized screw in there to attack some ball bear runners of course also at the front there it gives us a bit more wood to give us that extra bit of strength when when we use it when we're constructing it together and everything else so we've got two pieces there we've got two pieces there uh we screw through from the back glued and screwed straight through so there's no twisting on that and again the older part of 3b1 that's on this is on the front of this outer frame um the cut out as you can see is is basically flush with them two rails coming out there and the depth of that is governed by the ball bearing runners so basically you're going to sit that on there because that's slightly wider than your 2b1 uh and that comes basically flush with the top there so that your depth you cut out on that um you're starting off uh the edge of that rail you've got the depth of it being the ball bearing runner and then the width is the ball bearing runner plus another frame um so it's pretty easy to come up with really on that side of things um so that's our router frame uh our inner frame again it's all made from two b1 so you've got your back piece you've got one single side and one single side on that side and you've got a single front as well so that's an easy construction there's no cutouts on that uh depth wise that rail is going to be cut to the same depth as that in a rail um so obviously when it comes together it all sits today together nice and flush and everything's up and neat and everything else the only one that you've really got to uh to measure is this back rail um and what you've got to do basically is whatever uh bedroom is using whether it's these ball bearing ones or whether it's drawer runs or whatever whatever else you've got to use you basically put them two together measure from either side and take that away from your inside measurement of this uh this outer frame so whatever measurement you've got there put them together that's your measurement deduct it and whatever you're left with which is that that's going to be the size of that back rail now if you notice on here that front rail is slightly smaller than that front rail and there's a reason for that it's it's all depends on how you want to finish your camper off now i've got some fronts that are going to go on this decorative fronts that are basically going to be acting as legs and when this comes across here they're going to be rolling over now if i left that to the to the very end once i've had any chance to to create a nice curve on that one so i've made them slightly smaller but again it all depends on how you're going to be constructing this um and that's that's that's it basically on that side of things the other thing that i would say is when you're putting these together make sure you use um some wood glue um gorilla glue or anything like that that you've got and if it's compatible with wood it's great it's going to need the extra strength on it these are the screws i've been using uh multi-purpose wood screws and these 40 ml ones are what i've been using going through the ends of the which are long enough once it's sunk in uh you can use longer um i probably wouldn't recommend going any thicker than that the 3.5 i'd probably stick to that kind of thickness of screw because you don't want to cause any problems with weakening it by making it too thick and it's splitting and things like that so that's the kind of uh size of screws i've been using um i've dropped into a 25 mil to screw the bed slats in with uh i'm down to i think it's 19 or 20 mil for screwing uh the ball bearing runners on on on that side of it as well so i don't pop through with the with the screws as well so everything stays within the timber um but yeah that's that's what we're looking at for that uh one of the things i don't think i've pointed out yet is um when you set your bed height um which a rule of thumb i normally do so if you've got um your l-shape support rail on the back there i usually put a 13-mil staff at 30 mil 13-inch staff underneath that and that's usually the kind of height that i'm looking at so from from the level of the floor up to that point there is 13 inches which i normally do it at what you've got to take into consideration and remind yourself is when you come across to make your bed front you've got a dip here so you're gonna have to measure what you've got there and then deduct or add on that part the to make your bed front so you don't uh you don't get it either leaning back or or leaning forwards so just keep that in mind when you're making your bed front it's gonna be slightly different from what your rail on the back rail is okay so as we start to put this back together now we're going to be putting the ball bearing runners on um there's a couple of things in placement of this is quite important so obviously we made that cut out the the depth of this uh beds uh barbarian runner so we know that that's going to run level with the top of this bed which is great when you actually come to position it you want it so it comes basically flush with the front of this 3x1 there because as you pull that out that bit that stopper actually goes on the inside of this other rail so when that closes all this goes nice and neat together um and you won't get any rattles or anything like that and it closes up nice and neat so that's going to be going on to there like that i'm going to come to this other one this is going to be sitting on this point here and that bit that was telling you basically it sits right up to the inside of that rail uh uh so when it all closes up that comes together and everything's nice and neat but we'll uh i'll set the camera up set the time lapse up and okay so once you've got the beds um the ball bearing runners in place screw to the outer frame and the interfering so they're both interlinked now just make sure that you've got a nice easy glide glad gliding motion uh you don't want it too tight you don't want it too slack uh you just want it so it's it's it slides in nice um the other thing if you are using drawer runners um because this is on a slight incline because obviously that three the ones at the front you've got to be on the back this is slightly leaning back so when you pull that out assuming you've got your measurements right that should just glide back on its own and if it does that's perfect that's what you want but with the ball bearing runners uh you don't get that you've got to physically push it in the other thing we're looking for as well is when you push it back you get that click and that stops that pulling across as well so that that for me now that's perfect that's exactly what we want so moving on to the bed slats um there is a way of measuring this up so for example um we're going to be going to this inner frame so we've got a measurement there from the very edge the average of the which is 792 millimeters uh these bed slats are 50 ml each and they're going to be placed like this so you've got one on your inner frame and then we're going to link that to the outer frame you see which step back and then we've got another one coming across like that so what we're going to do i want to place them across like so and again everyone you do stagger it to one to the other just like a zigzag effect if you will um place them out and see how many roughly you think uh you're gonna need um you don't want too much of a gap you want it pretty close to be honest to give you that extra support and strength um and you you're only finishing on this this frame this this inner frame you don't want to go on the outer frame um so you're really on you're starting basically on the inner frame like that now for this one we're looking at 13 slats that's nice nicely spread out there's a good amount of slats on there um so if we've got 13 slats at 50 millipiece that's 650 mil our overall width from there to there is 792 millimeters so we'll take the 650 away from that leaving us with 142 millimeters in total now if we go across like where these gaps here this is what we're counting up and there's going to be 12 gaps there's 13 slats and 12 gaps so we've got 142 millimeters and we're going to divide that by the 12 and that leaves us with 11.83 millimeters but fragment set we're going to say 12 millimeters so the easiest thing for me to do is get some 12 milliply and just put a piece of 12 ml each time you go down um as you get to the middle obviously that's going to close up a little bit because we're out by um 17 mil i think it is um so you're gonna do say three or four on this side and then three or four on this side and then work your way to the middle because that center one will be um the gaps say you've got uh 12 miles might be a little bit closer well that's the other thing that you've you've got to locate first start at one side come so far in and then start your other side and then walk towards the middle and then you'll be able to centralize that final slat so yeah i'll set the camera up and we'll get these these beds are screwed up again right okay so we've got all the slats back on always give it one last try make sure everything is still working as it should do that seems perfect to me that one of the last things that you probably want to put on on this is probably some butt hinges on the back and what that'll do that'll obviously give you that uh point where you can attach to that back that back rail um and obviously once that's screwed down obviously it's not going to move anywhere but it also gives you that ability to lift these bed slots up and down so you can gain access to the storage part under your bed so let's get this in the van and i'm gonna look okay so we've got the uh bed friends back in now i've got a couple of screw tacting at the back uh stop it moving about so literally as you can see it's effortless to set up a really easy system and again with them injuries on the back you can gain access it's under this i mean at the front here there isn't um there is a door at the back there but there isn't on the front but it's so easy to just lift up again access underneath um on the front of here is going to be one of these other side and that they are the support legs basically um they're quite accurate obviously it's made out of the uh the furniture board that'll attach to that to that rail uh either from the back through the front probably from the back to ministry you don't see any screws get that glued and screwed on there but um that's what uh that's what we're looking like um i hope i've covered everything uh that everybody's asked questions about measurements and the way it's constructed and things like that if i have missed anything please let me know i'll get back to you as soon as possible with uh with your with your answers um like i say it was um the first video i did on the bed was just more of a time-lapse thing so i hope this has gone more in depth for you but many thanks for watching please don't forget to subscribe thanks very [Music] much you

Channel: dantheman 321

Views: 166,668

Keywords: Bed, Bed system, Build, Camper, Campervan, Diy, How to, Make, Mobile home, Motorhome, Professional, Pull out, Pull out bed, Rock roll bed, Rv, Rv life, Rv living, Self build, Stealth, Tiny home, Tiny house, camper conversion, camper van, camper van conversion, campervan conversion, dantheman 321, diy van build, living big in a tiny house, living in a van, tiny house on wheels, tiny house tour, van build, van conversion, van life, van life build, van life tour, van tour

Id: W1OSJxh9TJU

Length: 23min 25sec (1405 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 17 2021