Almost completed my DIY folding bed! Most folding beds are just wasted space and volume while folded up. Mine is cleverer than that; it’s a desk and shelf that transforms into a bed. As the bed folds down, the desk and shelf stay level, anything on them is undisturbed.

Working well so far, more info to come.

I’ve refined the earlier linkage design, and managed to simulate it in Phun! (Unfortunately while being easy to use and great for doing simulations, it doesn’t really rate as a proper CAD package; lacking the concept of ‘measurement’ for a start)

Video

Another advantage of this design, I think, is that when the bed is open there’s no gap between the bed and the wall. Many folding beds have this gap, and need a panel anchored to the inner edge of the bed to protect the user rolling down into the mechanism.

A few other challenges have arisen in designing this bed. Namely;

• How to fit a desk somewhere into the design, either that folds down with the bed (so as to end up flat on the floor) or that folds up out of the way before folding the bed down.
• How to fit a wardrobe into the space. The metal bed frame I’m using is 1900 mm tall. The thin IKEA PAX wardrobe is 500 mm wide. The *entire* room is ~2400 mm wide. So maybe I’ll need to figure out how to narrow the wardrobe slightly.
• How to get this all done before my sister-in-law comes to stay!