Joining plywood to make a bed

[Chefslot]

Looking at making a bed from 18mm plywood ( I like the look of the ends of the laminate ) and I need to;
a) glue a few strips together to make 4x4 inch uprights for the legs and sides and,
b) use some thinner 3-4mm plywood strips and make some curved laminate arch sections using a jig going from the legs to the sides for looks and for strength.
The uprights and sides I will join with mortise and tenon joints and the curved laminate sections I was thinking housing joints.

Now I'm stuck what glue or adhesive to use, so I've narrowed it down to, titebond 3, aerolite 306 urea formaldehyde or a epoxy or polyester resin, the former I think might be overkill.

Regards

 

[Rich C]

I would just use standard wood glue, so of those, Titebond 3. You're going to have huge joining surfaces though, so almost anything will be fine.

 

[sunnybob]

Hopefully not a ply base as well?
If so, try putting your mattress on the floor and sleep on it for a week. Thats what the ply base will be like to sleep on. :shock:

 

[MikeG.]

Hopefully not a ply base as well?
If so, try putting your mattress on the floor and sleep on it for a week. Thats what the ply base will be like to sleep on. :shock:

Sprung ply slats can work well, though.

 

[thetyreman]

haven't used it yet but everbuild 502 seems like the next best thing with glue, it's a lot cheaper than titebond 3.

I'll wait until my cheap wudcare PVA runs out.

 

[Rich C]

I use 502, no complaints.

 

[pike]

Hopefully not a ply base as well?
If so, try putting your mattress on the floor and sleep on it for a week. Thats what the ply base will be like to sleep on. :shock:

I actually can't sleep on anything BUT a ply base, but thats probably because I'm old and aching I put ply with holes as I need it firm.

 

[sunnybob]

I've slept on sprung ply board bases, I wouldnt bother to make my own.
Perforated ply is the standard bed base here, I've not seen a sprung base at all.
I've slept on super firm mattresses for many years, but now I'm finding too firm is actually cutting off my circulation on whatever side I sleep. My current mattress is softer than I have had in 30 years. Getting old aint no fun at all, is it? :roll:

I certainly wouldnt want 18 mm ply under me though, whatever the mattress. :roll: :roll:

As a side note, ikea do plastic (I think) sprung slat units that go between a solid base and mattress. I'm going to investigate them next time I'm dragged out shopping.

 

[pike]

We have 3 bed bases in our house which are basically 18mm ply and love it, so each to their own. We're all diffferent shapes and sizes.

Either with large holes in it or wide slats. Works really well with the mattresses we own if you like a firm bed. I find sagging middles a problem

 

[ED65]

I'd suggest you only need to look beyond PVA if you need more working time. With almost all adhesives there's no strength advantage one over the others as all are capable of creating joints stronger than solid wood. So pick your adhesive based on other criteria.

When glueing up ply because you're largely not working with recently cut joint surfaces refresh the faces to be glued with a light sand, apply plenty of glue and supply enough clamping pressure and you'll be golden.

 

[will1983]

Check out Everbuild D4 from Toolstation. It's about £8 a litre but you can find it for a bit less elsewhere. I use this for everything and have never had it fail on me.

I usually give the gluing surfaces a quick buzz over with the sander to make sure they are clean before gluing. Obviously vacuum off any dust before applying glue though.