This design look good to me on paper but let me know your thoughts on it. (This is my first post on reddit.)
[Design] Modular steel bed frame – tilted headrest, French cleat side panels, converts to king size. Looking for feedback before I build.
Hey
I've been designing a custom steel bed frame from scratch and wanted to share the concept before I get it fabricated. Would love feedback, especially on the structural challenges I'm trying to solve.
Why I'm building this
I move houses fairly often and commercial bed frames are always a pain to disassemble and reassemble. I wanted something modular, sturdy, and lightweight — and couldn't find anything off the shelf that ticked all boxes.
The design
- Size: Single bed, 3 ft × 6.5 ft (fits a standard 6-inch mattress)
- Material: Square hollow section steel, powder-coated white
- Only 4 legs — no centre legs - to maximize the underneath storage size.
- Plywood base beneath the mattress (instead of slats)
- 3-module design that breaks down for easy transport:
- Head module (with headrest + 1 ft square pipe extrusions on each side)
- Central frame (rests on top of the extensions (or protrusions)— bolted)
- Foot module (with matching 1 ft extrusions)
- Headrest tilted 12° backward for better comfort while sitting up in bed
- French cleat + magnet side cover system — MDF/plywood panels clip onto the frame to hide under-bed storage. Lift off easily without tools.
- Two single beds can be bolted together via steel plates welded to the side rails to form a king size. There would be no gap between frames when joined together.
Key challenges I'm trying to solve — would love input here:
Preventing flex/bow in the central frame with no centre legs. I have created an excel sheet to calculate max deflection for the long edge. I am designing it for 150 kg person sitting at the center of the long edge with max deflection of 5 mm. For 2mm thickness, it turns out i need at least 25x80 mm tube. Am i over engineering it?
**the joining the center module with the other two modules ** — For stability and noice reduction, i am planning to make the centre module 'sit' on extrusion instead of just bolting. Any better approaches?
Side cover panels — using French cleats screwed to the MDF + matching slots on the steel frame, with small magnets to hold the bottom edge in place. Seems solid on paper but haven't tested it yet.
Attached images show the assembled view, disassembled modules, the French cleat detail, and a reference render of what the finished look might be with the side covers on.
Happy to share more detail on any part of this. Anything concerning?