# Cotbed



## sxlalan (10 Oct 2005)

Looking back through my posts I've noticed that I first submitted a question about how to make a cotbed on 24th April 2005. Well, thanks to everyone’s help on this forum, nearly 6 months later it is finally finished! For those who don't already know, a cotbed is a 1400mm*700mm cot with fixed sides. The bed base can be lowered as the child grows, starting high when the baby is new (and can't stand up) and being lowered as it gets more active/mobile! Here is a brief overview of the construction, my first woodworking project...

The first part of the cotbed that I made (having bought a router and built a table for it) was the bed base.





The base was made from pine and consisted of 2 rails and 15 connecting slats. The rails were routed into an L shape and all edges rounded over. The edges of the slats were also rounded over (to avoid any sharp edges anywhere on the cot)





The slats were screwed to the rails. With a brief spark of inventiveness I made a small jig (i.e. L shaped bit of wood clamped to my drill press) to make locating and drilling the pilot holes in the slats quick and easy. Not earth shattering but my first jig and I was embarrassingly pleased with the simple idea!





The ends of the cot were a simple frame and panel construction. The rails and stiles of the panel were made of Poplar and joined via M&T. The mortises and tenons were created with the router and a groove was also routed to accept the central plywood panel. The panel was routed with shallow vertical V groves on one side to give the appearance of multiple tongue and groove boards.



 

 



The rails along the side of the cot were also made from poplar, with holes to accept 18 17mm dowels drilled in each.





Once all of the parts had been constructed and sanded I taped and painted them before final assembly.





This went quite well but was a hell of a job with a paintbrush. Next time I will lash out on a spray gun!

Once painted I started the final assembly. The glue-up of the panels was fairly straight forward





but the side rails were a tad tricky, trying to line up all of the dowels with the corresponding holes!





The final part of the build was to put a beech surround around the top of the cotbed. I routed mortise along the top of each side and end of the bed and in the bottom of the beech. A floating tenon was placed in each of these groves and the and the whole lot glues together.





The beech was finished off with some Chestnut Finishing Oil which came up quite well





A final rubdown with some 0000 steel wool and I was finished. The whole lot bolts together to make moving it around easier!



 



Caitlin Mary (born 11th July) will be moving into her new accommodation in the next week or 2. Fortunately her Moses Basket has been big enough until now! I would highly recommend cot building to any prospective parents wanting a first woodworking project as construction is pretty straight forward and great fun!

I would like to thank everyone on this forum who helped be get this cot together by answering my not inconsiderable stream of questions! Here is a list of credits in no particular order...

*Credits*
Shady
frank
WiZeR
Gill
Travis Byrne
batty
Alf
Newbie_Neil
ike
DaveL
Dewy
dedee
WoodMaster
Neville Lawler
Roger Sinden
Steve Maskery
ydb1md
devonwoody
MikeW
CHJ
beech1948
Philly
andrewm
polyvinylacetate
Les Mahon
Waka
Tony
les chicken
cambournepete
derek681
colinc
ColG
Terry Smart
jasonB
Sawdust Producer
Argee
waterhead37
Argus
SammieQ


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## Alf (10 Oct 2005)

Alan,

Proper job; turned out very nice indeed. Congrats. =D> 

Cheers, Alf


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## dedee (10 Oct 2005)

Alan, very nice indeed. I am sure it well be used by many future generations as well. 

Andy


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## Chris Knight (10 Oct 2005)

Alan,
That is a great result - looks super.


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## Scott (10 Oct 2005)

Lovely job Alan! Well done!


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## LyNx (10 Oct 2005)

Alan, very nice job. You must be very pleased. 

What paint did you use to finish the cot. 

Andy


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## sxlalan (10 Oct 2005)

Thanks all.

Lynx. The paint was a nightmare from hell scenario. I actually used an acrylic wood paint from Crown. they were the only people who would get back to me an assure me that the paint was child safe. It wasn't easy to get a smooth finish with though and isn't as tough as I would have liked. I ended up puting a couple of coats of Chestnut Lacquer over the top which improved the colour and provided a tougher finish. In hind-sight I would have been much better off with an oil based trade paint! It was too much like hard work to consider stripping it all back and starting again though! I am actually really pleased with the final finish, it is smooth and the colour is what I wanted but am a little unsure as to how well it will stand up to the rough and tumble of nursery life!

Alan


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## wizer (10 Oct 2005)

that's one lucky baby!

well done!


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## Neil (10 Oct 2005)

Great work, Alan  - _*far*_ superior to the one we bought for our little lad (born in July too as it happens) 

Cheers,
Neil


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## Gill (10 Oct 2005)

That's a smashing job, Alan. Well done  !

Gill


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## frank (10 Oct 2005)

very nice cot alan ,has the boss started hinting about a new king size bed yet   .

frank


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## sxlalan (11 Oct 2005)

Thanks all.

Frank, given the lack of sleep in recent weeks I think she is more likley to push for 2 singles!

Cheers

Alan


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## PowerTool (11 Oct 2005)

Excellent job - looks great,and like the step-by-step guide.

Did you work to a plan,or make it up as you went along ?
As in - could the plans be useful for someone else later?
Or do other people have plans to share? (Enough to make it a seperate topic)

Andrew


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## LyNx (11 Oct 2005)

start a new topic, i've been wondering about plans myself

Andy


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## sxlalan (11 Oct 2005)

No detailed plans, just a lot of measurements taken from a local baby shop....


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