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Post Info TOPIC: Struts for a bed
Hylda&Jon


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Struts for a bed
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Brain picking time as I am terrible at mathematics.     

I have a king size bed with a proper mattress on it and I need to get 2 struts to make it easier to lift but I don't know what weight they would have to lift.

I tested the weight of the foot of the bed and it was 50kg but I will be attaching the struts half way down the bed or a bit closer to the foot, depending on the direction I run the strut and I don't know how to calculate the weight at this point. The bed is 2mtr long.

Also I am unsure whether to have the struts like in figure 1 or in figure 2 in the attached pic.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Jon

bed struts.jpg



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Yendorane


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found this hope this helps

cheers Rod



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Hylda&Jon


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Thanks for the post Rod but I'm not too good at those sums and I don't know the weight of the whole mattress and there is no way of weighing it. All I know is it's 50kg at the foot so I'm hoping there is someone smarter than me that could, possibly, work out the weight in the centre from the info I have provided. If I place the strut off-centre I could work out the weight as long as I know the centre weight.

Cheers

Jon



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Allany


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I not long ago replaced mine on a queen bed
It had 43 or 45 kg on it i think
The strut people recommended 50 kg
A little bit stiff but no problem just got to be careful putting the bed down
But don't have to worry about it falling on my head when it is up

Allan

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Hylda&Jon


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Thanks Allan. Mine is a king size bed so a bit heavier.

Which way are your struts set up. Figure 1 or figure 2 ?

Also was the tube part put at the bottom and the rod part towards the top?

Thanks

Jon



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Ondabeach


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Hi Jon,

The configuration will need to be as in your figure 2. If you configure it as in Figure 1, you'll never close it as the struts will have all the mechanical advantage.

Working from the chart that Rod linked to, as well as a few others I checked, you should be using struts that are 1200mm long (60% of the bed length). If I were you, I would ring a strut supplier, give them the info they ask for and take their recommendation.

If the weight at one end of the bed is 50kg, then the total weight will be 100kg, this is the weight they will want to know, plus the length of the bed (2000mm).

Do not simply bolt the strut pins through timber, make sure you use a decent size metal plate to spread the load at both ends. You're talking about some extreme pressure here. They should be able to supply suitable mounting plates for the job.

Make sure that you have a fixed strut that will securely lock the bed open before leaning in there matey, otherwise, if the struts or your mounting points fail you'll be like a tube of toothpaste being jumped on from a great height... not a pretty sight no

 

Cheers, and good luck, Steve.



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Cheers, Steve.

 

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Yendorane


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maybe this one is easier

Rod



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Allany


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Jon
Mine are set up as figure 1
The tube is at the bottom
Take your info to a strut place and get them to work it out
That way if it is not right they will have to sort it out
Just remember there will be bedding on the bed
All adds up

Allan

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Hylda&Jon


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Thanks people. I spoke to the strut place a while ago and they wouldn't install it for me but they said to bring the struts back if they are too strong or weak and they will adjust the pressure. I'll probably get a friend to put it on for me as he is much more capable than me but I'll ask the strut place about the metal plate like you suggested Steve. They also said they would be locking ones.



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Peter1059


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Hi Guys

I used The Struts Guys   http://gasstrutguys.com.au/  in the past and found them to be very good and a lot cheaper than OEM products.

 

Peter



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Rock


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If you go into the Caravans Plus website, check out their range of struts, find a strut that's close and check out the tech and non tech advice on how, where and why, it might help. Not sayin' you gotta buy from there but the info is pretty good. :)



-- Edited by Rock on Sunday 17th of May 2015 05:27:12 PM

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