Wall bed/Murphy bed hinge help please.

[dephill]

Hi all,
I had a search here but to no avail.
My next project at home is to build a wall bed/cupboards for SWMBO’s office/guest room.
I have found wall bed hinges and full kits online but none quite fit my requirements.
They’re usually based on a plain swivel hinge rotating about one axis. I think I need some kind of linkage.
I’ve also seen rock and roll hinges and these are closer but not quite there.
I’m quite short on space and would like the head of the mattress to be against the wall when folded down.
See pic:
Pivot A would obviously make the bed hit the wall.
Pivot B would work but leave either a very low bed or a very tall cupboard.

I’m thinking something like these hinges but bigger and for use upside down:

Any suggestions?

 

[Sgian Dubh]

I’m quite short on space and
Any suggestions?

Is the shortage of space caused by the foot end of the bed sticking too far out into the room? If so, what about a horizontal folding bed rather than vertical folding, see here for examples.

My only other comment is to avoid trying to redesign something that has already had all the technical snags engineered out by others. These bed foldaway mechanisms from Häfele have always worked very well for me. It's just a case of building the cabinet and installing the mechanism very precisely to their specifications. Slainte.

 

[AES]

Hi all,
I had a search here but to no avail.
My next project at home is to build a wall bed/cupboards for SWMBO’s office/guest room.
I have found wall bed hinges and full kits online but none quite fit my requirements.
They’re usually based on a plain swivel hinge rotating about one axis. I think I need some kind of linkage.
I’ve also seen rock and roll hinges and these are closer but not quite there.
I’m quite short on space and would like the head of the mattress to be against the wall when folded down.
See pic:
Pivot A would obviously make the bed hit the wall.
Pivot B would work but leave either a very low bed or a very tall cupboard.View attachment 156963
I’m thinking something like these hinges but bigger and for use upside down:View attachment 156964

Any suggestions?

@ dephill: If it helps I have a set of hinges, springs, and the whole works squirrelled away somewhere. Old and stored "cleanly" but all working well when removed many years back. They're yours if you want them, but CAUTION: Postage from Switzerland is ridiculously expensive (makes UK Post look cheap as chips!), but as said, yours if you can't find anything better.

Suggest a PM if interested, if not "nae bovver"! ;-)

 

[Alli]

what about a horizontal folding bed rather than vertical folding, see here for examples.

I been playing with the idea of putting a fold up bed in our front room that hides away into a cabinet so started reading this thread with keen interest. It never occurred to me to do a horizontal bed which would be a lot better in my case. Thanks very much.

 

[dephill]

Is the shortage of space caused by the foot end of the bed sticking too far out into the room? If so, what about a horizontal folding bed rather than vertical folding, see here for examples.

My only other comment is to avoid trying to redesign something that has already had all the technical snags engineered out by others. These bed foldaway mechanisms from Häfele have always worked very well for me. It's just a case of building the cabinet and installing the mechanism very precisely to their specifications. Slainte.

Yes, the shortage of space is as you say, leaves no space to get past desk(in pic).
The bed will mostly be for grandparents so I’d like it to be vertical to avoid them having to clamber across in the night.
The desk is the next project so I think I’ll make it fold against the wall which will help.

I agree with your sentiments and I do have a habit of over engineering and trying to reinvent the wheel.
I like the look of those hafele hinges, the drawings make the gap at the back seem not so bad.
I was mostly asking in case someone knew of hinges or a system that already existed which had exactly the action I’m after.
Thanks for the advice, perhaps Hafele it is.

 

[mwinfrance]

clic-clac ( click-clack) sofas..you can make , or buy them. Very common in french "studio appartments" or as fold out guest beds.Also look at 3 part foam beds, exist in singles or doubles.

 

[Lefley]

Hi all,
I had a search here but to no avail.
My next project at home is to build a wall bed/cupboards for SWMBO’s office/guest room.
I have found wall bed hinges and full kits online but none quite fit my requirements.
They’re usually based on a plain swivel hinge rotating about one axis. I think I need some kind of linkage.
I’ve also seen rock and roll hinges and these are closer but not quite there.
I’m quite short on space and would like the head of the mattress to be against the wall when folded down.
See pic:
Pivot A would obviously make the bed hit the wall.
Pivot B would work but leave either a very low bed or a very tall cupboard.View attachment 156963
I’m thinking something like these hinges but bigger and for use upside down:View attachment 156964

Any suggestions?

Don't most Murphy bed hardware kits when they fold down automatically take the bed back tight to wall. I looked at a few kits an$ they all seem to do it.

 

[dephill]

Thanks, all the ones I’ve seen have just one pivot so they can’t really move the bed against the wall but maybe I’m missing something.

 

[Inspector]

I think these guys have some neat ideas and they sell the hardware to make them too. Bottom of the page in the black space.

https://hiddenbedfactory.ca/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlJaLtu-i_gIVDfvjBx0qPAxJEAAYAyAAEgI6BfD_BwE
Ditch the existing desk and and make a combination desk / bed and Bob's your uncle.

Pete

 

[mwinfrance]

re Hiddenbedfactory.ca ..I haven't seen marquee tags used in decades, nor "Your Content Goes Here" left bang in the middle of a template homepage, they ought to ask their web designer for their money back .1998 is calling asking for their code tags back. I hope their products are better made, given more care and attention, than their website.

Now to go look at what they make in the black space, wondering if I'll run into any "blink" tags .
absolutely no reflection on your posting the link Pete

 

[mwinfrance]

Hmmmm, expensive, appears well engineered, but expensive.I seem to remember some of the larger caravans back in the late 60s and early 70s having what they describe as a Murphy bed , or a vertical bed. The kind that had three double beds, one fixed, one that was the bay window seats and used a table section to make a double bed, and one double bed in the middle area which folded down from a dividing "wall".
I know a lot of the french "carnies" buy British caravans with the slide out rooms and the fold down beds, and even the slide out swimming pools, maybe one of the caravan builders in the UK has the hinge /fold out mechanisms as "replacement units" for when they wear out.

 

[dephill]

I think these guys have some neat ideas and they sell the hardware to make them too. Bottom of the page in the black space.

https://hiddenbedfactory.ca/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlJaLtu-i_gIVDfvjBx0qPAxJEAAYAyAAEgI6BfD_BwE
Ditch the existing desk and and make a combination desk / bed and Bob's your uncle.

Pete

Cheers Pete,
We have a company here called studybed that looks to be the same.
I’ve tried to push the built in Murphy-desk-bed idea but She likes her desk on the wall it’s already on and wants the bed cabinet on the opposite wall where you don’t see it when you walk in the room. (And that’s that!)
To be fair, I have the whole double garage (no cars allowed) and she gets the spare room as an office/dressing room 95% of the time so it’s up to her.

 

[Jameshow]

Hi all,
I had a search here but to no avail.
My next project at home is to build a wall bed/cupboards for SWMBO’s office/guest room.
I have found wall bed hinges and full kits online but none quite fit my requirements.
They’re usually based on a plain swivel hinge rotating about one axis. I think I need some kind of linkage.
I’ve also seen rock and roll hinges and these are closer but not quite there.
I’m quite short on space and would like the head of the mattress to be against the wall when folded down.
See pic:
Pivot A would obviously make the bed hit the wall.
Pivot B would work but leave either a very low bed or a very tall cupboard.View attachment 156963
I’m thinking something like these hinges but bigger and for use upside down:View attachment 156964

Any suggestions?

Use pivot A but round off where pivot b is?

 

[dephill]

Use pivot A but round off where pivot b is?

Yeah I was thinking like that, round it off or make the bed tray shallower and let the mattress corner squash against the back when it’s being folded.

 

[eribaMotters]

I'm trying to figure out why the simple pivot A option is not the answer, all you need to do is radius the top corner. This will not be seen when the bed is up as it would be inside the cabinet sides. When the bed was down it would not be noticeable as a pillow would surely hide that small area.

Colin

 

[paulrbarnard]

Thanks, all the ones I’ve seen have just one pivot so they can’t really move the bed against the wall but maybe I’m missing something.

You mean against the wall when it is horizontal?

 

[dephill]

I'm trying to figure out why the simple pivot A option is not the answer, all you need to do is radius the top corner. This will not be seen when the bed is up as it would be inside the cabinet sides. When the bed was down it would not be noticeable as a pillow would surely hide that small area.

Colin

I’m trying to make it as small as possible when folded up and as short as possible when folded down.
I’ve no problem with radiusing the corner as you say but I can’t radius the mattress too.

My compromise will likely be either the mattress corner rubs/squashes as shown in the drawing or I end up with a longer bed when unfolded.
.
The main reason I was asking the question here was to see if anyone knew of a set of hinges commercially available that have the action I’m after but are designed for bed-like loads.
.
Like this but bigger, upside down and opening a full 90*:

You mean against the wall when it is horizontal?

horizontal and vertical ideally.

 

[Inspector]

Maybe go to an auto wrecker and get the hinges off a car hood. I don't know if they would have the full 90º range of motion needed though.

Pete

 

[eribaMotters]

Still go with simple bolt pivot at point A, but have a horizontal slot in the the vertical framework instead of a hole so you can pull the bed frame away from the wall before lifting/pivoting it up..

Colin

 

[mwinfrance]

Still go with simple bolt pivot at point A, but have a horizontal slot in the the vertical framework instead of a hole so you can pull the bed frame away from the wall before lifting/pivoting it up..

Colin

I've been thinking of that way for 24 hours, but couldn't think of a simple way to explain it ( and got sidetracked by Jacob over in baldkev's grass thread ) ..I agree, that ought to work fine. Pete, I don't think any cars in the UK in the breakers ( unless they have some US cars ) have those sort of hinges, maybe some old vans, or sports cars, but they'd be "sought after" bits, with commensurate prices and rare like rocking horse carp.

You have far more interesting vehicle breakers over the water ( no smiley here for jealous )