Zipbolt Connectors?

[Ryan Mooney]

Anyone used these (I found one ancient thread of "hey these look cool" when they first came out)?
http://www.leevalley.com/US/hardware/page.aspx?p=71050&cat=3,40842,43730&ap=1

Some explanation of the mechanism is given in the video near the bottom of this page: http://zipbolt.com.au/home (warning loud annoying music)

I'm considering using them to attach some bed rails instead of bed bolts because I won't have the hole on the outside of the leg this way which will work a bit better with my design.

[Ed Aumiller]

In process also of building a bed..
.
You would have to put slot in rail to use the zipbolts, wonder how sturdy it would be ?? Like the idea of not using bed bolts...

There are bed rail fasteners.... someone was selling them on here in the past... bought some but did not use them yet...
http://www.rockler.com/heavy-duty-wrought-steel-bed-rail-fasteners-4-pack-select-size

[John TenEyck]

I haven't used those particular ones but I have used Zipbolt panel connectors like these and they worked great. http://www.amazon.com/Zipbolt-10-900-x100mm-housing-plated/dp/B00AEVXF2A/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1422498401&sr=8-8&keywords=zipbolt You can get an amazing amount of closing force with them, they hold tight, yet are still easy to release when desired.

John

[peter gagliardi]

I think the design will help hold things "snug". However, the design is such that you won't be able to apply any real torque to provide serious hold pressure. In short , good for quick and easy. If you want tried and true, and pretty much bombproof, go traditional bed bolts. I get mine from Horton Brasses- they are an excellent company!!!

[Ryan Mooney]

I haven't used those particular ones but I have used Zipbolt panel connectors like these and they worked great. http://www.amazon.com/Zipbolt-10-900-x100mm-housing-plated/dp/B00AEVXF2A/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1422498401&sr=8-8&keywords=zipbolt You can get an amazing amount of closing force with them, they hold tight, yet are still easy to release when desired.

John

Thanks for the use report John, the "amazing amount of closing force, still easy to release" is just what I'm looking for :D As best as I can tell the tightening mechanism is the same on all of them.


In process also of building a bed..
.
You would have to put slot in rail to use the zipbolts, wonder how sturdy it would be ?? Like the idea of not using bed bolts...

There are bed rail fasteners.... someone was selling them on here in the past... bought some but did not use them yet...
http://www.rockler.com/heavy-duty-wrought-steel-bed-rail-fasteners-4-pack-select-size

Assuming the tightening mechanism works as desired, it seems that it will be as almost as strong as using bed bolts. The main issue I can seee would be possible issues with the screw in insert that goes into the leg working loose over time. Other than that they should be competitive with bed bolts - at least as far as the impact on the surrounding material goes. I was planning on using two and also putting a stub tennon on the end of the rail which should pretty much eliminate wracking I hope (my rails ar 6" wide 6/4 material so plenty to work with).

Lee Valley has a good collection of other bed connector hardware (many others sell them but they have a nice summary page of the general classes of connectors): http://www.leevalley.com/US/hardware/page.aspx?cat=3,40842&p=43730
I'm leaning towards the zipbolt or bed bolt connections because they both provide more compressive force to pull the rails into the legs than most of the other designs. I obviously haven't tried all of them (and some look better than others) but my limited experience with commercially built beds is that a lot of them have a "wiggling loose" over time issue.

If you do use the mortise bedlocks like the ones you show here also be aware that the screws on the rails are being put into end grain. When I was researching them I didn't find any huge reports of problems, but I did see a couple of folks suggesting that you put a dowel in set back a bit from the face from the bottom of the rail for the screws to bite into. There may be a better way to solve that problem (or maybe its not a problem at all... but I don't really like putting screws into end grain in principal).


Unless I get a negative use report I'll probably just order a set and give them a test run to see how it looks on some scrap 2x6 material. They aren't that expensive and I can always use more fasteners around even if I have to fall back to using bed bolts for the real thing :D

[Jon Nuckles]

I built a bed and wanted the strength of a mortise and tenon with a bed bolt (IMO, there is no knock-down option as strong), but the bolt covers did not go with my design. I found a method for hiding the bolts in Jeff Miller's book on beds, which I modified slightly for my project. You inlay a nut into the outside cheek of a long tenon in the head and foot rails before gluing them into the legs/corner posts. The bolt is inserted via a pocket cut on the inside face of the side rail, which has a short tenon, through a bit of the leg/corner and into the mating tenon and nut. Lining things up is a little fussy, but not difficult, and you get a rock solid joint with no visible hardware. The pictures below should help explain things better than words (try to ignore the walnut/maple blend; the walnut I had was not the best quality and I had to glue it up to get the thickness I wanted anyway, so I used some hard maple for strength in areas it would not be seen).
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=298377&d=1413305818&thumb=1 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=298377&d=1413305818)http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=298378&d=1413306184&thumb=1 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=298378&d=1413306184)

[Ryan Mooney]

I built a bed and wanted the strength of a mortise and tenon with a bed bolt (IMO, there is no knock-down option as strong), but the bolt covers did not go with my design. I found a method for hiding the bolts in Jeff Miller's book on beds, which I modified slightly for my project.

Thanks Jon,

Thats a good solution as well (and thanks for the clear and explanitory pictures!). Searching for "Jeff Miller beds" I see there was an article in the Oct 2007 issue of FWW that he did on beds as well, I'll have to see if I have that in the stash at home. I'll keep this one in the options list for sure.