I just finished putting 2 sets of these together. On the plus side, the wood was solid, nicely finished, and not warped or twisted. The directions were easy to understand.
On the negative side: heres a list of the tools I needed to assemble these beds: a drill press; a chop saw; a drill/driver and appropriate bits; 8mm, 6mm, 4mm drill bits; ratcheting screwdriver; a saddle square; a center punch; a 4 clamp, an 8 clamp, a very sharp chisel, and a good portable vacuum.
The headboards and footboards went together very easily. The 4 clamp just makes it easier. You can hold the pieces together while driving the hardware. Now the fun begins. To join a headboard to a footboard you use a 2 piece connector. A bolt goes into the head or footboard hole and the mating piece has a hole driven at 90 degrees into which you insert a barrel nut. Most of these went in just fine, but there were a few where the barrel nut hole was not deep enough. Sometimes it was due to chips and dust not being extracted (get out the vacuum) and sometimes they were not driven deep enough (get out the 8mm bit). Once there was a hole where there shouldnt have been one and no hole where there should have. (Drill press, because it was in a leg and required a deep, straight, 90 degree hole.) The most problems I had involved attaching the ladder. When you put the bed slats where the directions tell you, they interfere with placing the fasteners for the ladder. You need to chop off corners of the slats (chop saw). And even then you may have to hand chisel more tolerance to drive the fasteners home. Even then, some holes for ladders did not even come close to matching the holes in the joining boards. I was able to get a couple in, but I had to drill the rest.
The process was frustrating and exhausting, but the final product is sturdy, solid, and I have no worries about having my grandchildren sleep in them. But its not for the weekend handyman.
Good if you know what youre doing
I just finished putting 2 sets of these together. On the plus side, the wood was solid, nicely finished, and not warped or twisted. The directions were easy to understand. On the negative side: heres a list of the tools I needed to assemble these beds: a drill press; a chop saw; a drill/driver and appropriate bits; 8mm, 6mm, 4mm drill bits; ratcheting screwdriver; a saddle square; a center punch; a 4 clamp, an 8 clamp, a very sharp chisel, and a good portable vacuum. The headboards and footboards went together very easily. The 4 clamp just makes it easier. You can hold the pieces together while driving the hardware. Now the fun begins. To join a headboard to a footboard you use a 2 piece connector. A bolt goes into the head or footboard hole and the mating piece has a hole driven at 90 degrees into which you insert a barrel nut. Most of these went in just fine, but there were a few where the barrel nut hole was not deep enough. Sometimes it was due to chips and dust not being extracted (get out the vacuum) and sometimes they were not driven deep enough (get out the 8mm bit). Once there was a hole where there shouldnt have been one and no hole where there should have. (Drill press, because it was in a leg and required a deep, straight, 90 degree hole.) The most problems I had involved attaching the ladder. When you put the bed slats where the directions tell you, they interfere with placing the fasteners for the ladder. You need to chop off corners of the slats (chop saw). And even then you may have to hand chisel more tolerance to drive the fasteners home. Even then, some holes for ladders did not even come close to matching the holes in the joining boards. I was able to get a couple in, but I had to drill the rest. The process was frustrating and exhausting, but the final product is sturdy, solid, and I have no worries about having my grandchildren sleep in them. But its not for the weekend handyman.