Murphy Bed

[Tullie Templet]

Anyone build a Murphy bed? I'm trying to figure out what shocks I need as far as the weight rating in pounds. Anybody have any clue?

[Jay Winzenz]

I made 2 murphy beds using this kit from Lee Valley http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware/page.aspx?p=41276&cat=3,40842,41271&ap=1 It comes with all the parts you need minus the wood and handles. It worked very well and the beds were easy to build.

[Tullie Templet]

I already have everything I need excexpt the shocks. I ordered a pair that was too big and I just need to find the correct ones so I can swap them out.

[johnny means]

I've used these with great results. http://www.murphybeds.com/Hardware_panel/default.aspx

Follow their plans and you can't go wrong. I preferred the springs over shocks for adjustability and durability. They are pricey, but well worth it for a purpose designed product as opposed to a kit of off the shelf parts.

[Jamie Buxton]

I've built three Murphy beds. The first was almost directly from that Create-A-Bed kit that Lee Valley and others sell. The second was still kinda based on it, and the third eventually used only the pivots for the bed part. On the second and third, I was knowledgable enough to calculate out my own gas struts. It really turns into an engineering exercise. You figure out how much your load will weigh -- the wood and the mattress. The strut presses down on a short lever arm to counterbalance the load, which presses down on a longer lever arm. The ratio of those two lever arms, and the weight of the load, tells you how strong the struts need to be.

You should calculate the forces at both ends of the bed travel -- both up and down. On one of the beds, I had the strut correctly sized to help lift the bed when it was nearly horizontal, but the strut force was too big when the bed was nearly vertical. I could barely pull the bed from its cabinet. I had to revise the geometry of the pivots and the strut mounts, and then get new struts, before the thing worked correctly.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Jan 2011 FHB has an excellent article on building a fold down bed using Hafele hardware kit.

[Peter Stahl]

There's a guy on another WW forum that has a business (storagebeds dot com) and also sells DIY kits.