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Our team was tasked with creating a platform bed for a child with spinal muscular atrophy which will allow her to more easily get in and out as well as keep her in the bed during the night. Individuals with spinal muscular atrophy often have difficulties walking and crawling as they have limited use of their legs and thus often have difficulty getting around particularly with getting in and out of bed.
Individuals with spinal muscular atrophy have difficulty moving around especially getting in and out of bed. Our design aims to address these issues designing a bed that will allow them to get in and out quite easily as well as keep them in throughout the night.
Concept design 1 is a standard approach to a platform, safety bed. It is heavily inspired by a photo the family provided; however, there are noticeable changes to the design. The rails will be tall enough to restrict climbing out of the bed, and a gate will be featured on opposing sides to allow any placement of the bed that is desired. The gates and rails will have a pig pen design, as pigs are the child’s favorite animal.
Concept design 2 is inspired by a covered wagon with a mesh like top cloth cover leaning into the farm style theming for the bed. It will be designed to have a removable top cover, wheels, and gate to allow for customizable later down the line if or when the child feels they no longer like this arrangement allowing them to still use the bed frame and mattress.
Concept Design 3 focuses heavily on the pig/farm theming featuring a frame that not only meets the requirements but is fun for the child. This design is a a low platform bed with an outer shell themed around a red barn with large sliding doors either side featuring pig theming and lights inside as well. Additionally, the panels and roof can be removed later if or when the child feels they no longer want them.
When looking at all aspects of the three proposed beds we chose to go with Concept Design 1. This model provides not only the safest and lowest cost build of the bed but the greatest longevity with removal of rails and the gates making it the most logical choice when compared to the rather lofty ambitions of designs 2 and 3. One thing of note in our design is the desire to incorporate greater farm theming into the design so an additional focus is to be placed toward that in the final.
The main structure of the selected design uses the same structure from concept design 1. This is because of the simplicity, longevity, and lower cost of concept design 1. Along with this, the selected design will include an overhead fabric, facade that is similar to that of concept design 2. This will allow for more customizability in the overall design, adding to the farm theme that the family wishes for. The facade will be easily removable which allows for both ease of access top clean the bed and full removability, if desired, when the child is older. Combining these two aspects of concept designs 1 and 2, gives the selected design the best features of both while still maintaining all of the family’s desired characteristics for the bed.
All items in our design will be made from poplar wood and later stained grey as per the family’s wishes with the exceptions of bolts, hinges latches, etc… which will be made from steel of differing grades specified in the Bill of Materials.
Headboard/Footboard:
Sides:
Gates
Slats and Other Mattress Holdings:
Barn Facade:
All this allows for the creation of a safe bed which will keep the child in place and be fun with creative theming and longevity of use.
For our first engineering analysis, we chose to examine the 3″ deep by 28″ high styles made from Poplar to determine how wide they have to be. To do this we examined the styles based on compressive stress and flexural stress to see what width would work for all situations. From this we determined that a width of 0.6469 in (or 0.75 in for ease of building) would be sufficient for our design.
Our second analysis focuses on the bolts that will be used to attach many of our elements together and whether or not they can hold up the weight of the bed. Steels are largely varied in their shear strength so proper calculation is necessary to ensure that the bolts will not break when implemented. From this and general information about carbon steels we can determine that a diameter of at minimum 3/8″ will be sufficient to hold up the bed.
For engineering analysis 3, the focus was on the screws being used for the gate hinges. The chosen screw material is galvanized steel, as it is the most cost effective option. With this in mind, the psi rating for the screws is 60,000psi. Using this rating, and our assumed 500lb force maximum, the minimum diameter of the screws was found to be 0.103in.
For the fabrication of the bed we first acquired our poplar wood, with most of it coming form Dr. Canfield and others from a supplier, before then planing the wood and cutting it to correct sizes. Then some pieces were jointed with the help of Dr. Pardue and glued to create the poles and larger bottom beam pieces. It was in this the decision was made to reduce the bottom beam pieces to 1″ and the poles/handrails to 2″ by 2″ based on what was available from our supply. From this we then began cutting the shapes of the styles out on the bandsaw using a router to improve the edges of each. During this time the choice was also made to use a biscuit joiner rather than a Dato stack to save time in assembling the railings. Once done the threaded inserts could then be inserted from a small 1/2″ hole drilled where needed. This then allowed us to assemble the gates and side pieces which used primarily glue with screws and finishing nails added for stability in the gates and a scrap wood assembly being used to hold the large pieces together. Following this the Rockler attachments could be added to all side pieces and poles having had channels for them beforehand using the router and being ground down to allow for correct assembly. Then finally, the holes for the bolt attachments could be drilled and the finial bed assembly could be then be done completing the bed. The staining and varnishing of the bed it was decided would be done by the family in the interest of time and to make sure that all aspects done by us were to the highest standard possible.
Testing the bed consisted of making sure the gate swung freely and the latches functioned as designed as well as making sure the bed could support the weight of a mattress and child in a safe manner.
For safe use of the bed first make sure the mattress is firmly settled on the slats in the bed. Then open the gate allowing the child to enter then closing and locking (if need be) securing the child in place. From this the child can then sleep peacefully and safe without worry of falling out.
As far assembly, first lay out the pieces in the correct layout i.e. headboard up front, sides on the sides, etc. Then using the bolts bolt each piece into the posts again making sure that each piece goes where it is needed. Next attach the rockler attachments in the middle securing the outer bed frame. Finally lay the slats into place and attach the gates finishing the bed completing the assembly. Disassembly is the same but in reverse.
Our project required us to build a platform bed for a child with spinal muscular atrophy to better allow her to get in and out more easily. This required us to develop a lot of skills in woodworking and design with wood that previously we had no knowledge in. It also required a lot of effort and time to do right making sure that every detail was to the highest standard it could possibly be while still being safe for the child. And while were weren’t able to stain and varnish in the time given and a threaded insert failed during the final construction, we are still very happy with the end product and feel that this was an enriching experience that provided skills that will last a lifetime while also giving something to a child that will enrich her life too.
We would like thank Dr. Canfield, Dr. Pardue, Chris Mills, Jeff Randolph, Marilyn Jensen, and all the student in the ME shop who helped us in this project for all the help and guidance along the way. We couldn’t have done it without you!
