Making a Crib
Introduction
So, with Sophia on her way, I'm making a crib.
I started with a lot of sketching, measuring off of existing cribs at my parents' house, etc. Mostly: I'm trying to work within the government guidelines for crib safety as well as having a proper/tight fit around the standard 28"x52" crib mattress. I mention the government guidelines here as recently the popular drop-side and other fashions of crib have been outlawed. This crib will be all static sides with adjustable-height for the mattress. Also, law currently states that the slats/ribs may have no more than 2-3/8" gaps. In the nature of safety (and ease of measuring) I am reducing all of the slat-gaps in this design to be 2".
Since I've not taken the time to scan/upload my sketches (and most likely never will), the next best thing are these design I did in Google SketchUp to validate the amount of materials I would need, and that the design I had been sketching in 2D bits will be a stable structure in true 3D. The idea here is that the floating white portion is a standard 6"x28"x52" crib mattress.
The basics of the frame (first drawing):
The frame filled in:
Same as above, just a different viewpoint:
What we're actually going with:
Note: Our actual plan is to have the tops (of each leg) be more rounded, I just at the time am not well versed enough in Google SketchUp to do the curve-design that I intended. Also, in this last drawing, you'll notice the back rack is a rounded dowel, and the legs are 2x4. Since my hardware store had no dowels long enough, and I could not verify that the dowel nor a 2x4 would stain to match the rest of the lumber, I instead opted to use another 1x3 for the rear top bar, and the legs are going to be all 1x4 instead of 2x4. My Lowe's only had SYP (yellow pine) 2x4s, and only radiata pine for their select-boards. I will be using the radiata pine for everything.
Materials
Frame Materials
| Quantity | Material | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1"x10"x8' board | Rear top rail & Rear vertical/center piece |
| 4 | 1"x4"x8' boards | (2) Front & rear legs (2) Front, Back, Left, & Right vertical slat bottom rails |
| 2 | 1"x3"x8' boards | Front, Left, & Right vertical slat top rails |
| 1 | 1"x3"x6' board | Rear Blanket-Hanger |
| 15 | 3/8"x6"x24" boards | Slats & fillers |
Tools
- Computer with Google SketchUp software, paper, and a pencil.
- ShopSmith table saw with fence & sliding table (for crosscuts)
- ShopSmith table saw with fence (for ripping)
- ShopSmith table saw with dado blades (for grooves)
- ShopSmith push block (while ripping to protect hands)
- Craftsman plunge router & table
- Router 90* bit with ball-bearing topper (to round edges of all slats)
- Router hourglass bit (for rounding spacers and groove-rails)
Planned Steps
- Having Erin pick out a design she likes.
- Re-designing that design on paper to be something I can achieve, that we both like.
- Re-creating that design in Google SketchUp to verify all measurements and structural-makeup as intended.
- Acquire the primary (frame) portions of the wood (See Materials above).
- The 3/8"x6"x24" boards will be ripped to 3/8"x1-1/2"x~24". This will be the slats all the way around. Scrap from this should provide my fillers for the channels around the slats.
- The 1"x10"x8' board will be cut to 52" for the rear top, and a 24" for the rear vertical insert. I should have an ~20" spare piece of 10"
- The 1"x4"x8' boards will have a channel cut into one of their thin sides. This channel will hold the 3/8"x1-1/2"x24" slats & fillers. They will be 28" for the sides and 52" for the front/rear.
- The 1"x3"x8' boards will also have a similar channel - except for the two 28" pieces for the sides and the one 52" piece for the back top.
- The 3/8"x1-1/2"x24" pieces (and fillers) will be glued and strapped into the 1"x4" & 1"x3" boards' channels.
- ...
Process
Cross Cuts
- Set fence & cut all the 26.5" lengths: Shopsmith speed R
1 26.5" cut from an 8' 1"x3" (first cut)
3 26.5" cut from an 8' 1"x3" (first, second, & third/final cut from this piece)
1 26.5" cut from an 8' 1"x4" (first cut)
1 26.5" cut from an 8' 1"x4" (first cut)
- Set fence & cut all the 52" lengths: Shopsmith speed R
1 52" cut from an 8' 1"x3" (second/final cut - one that's already had the 26.5" cut from it)
1 52" cut from an 8' 1"x4" (second/final cut - one that's already had the 26.5" cut from it)
1 52" cut from an 8' 1"x4" (second/final cut - one that's already had the 26.5" cut from it)
1 52" cut from an 8' 1"x10" (first cut)
- Set fence & cut all the 24" lengths. Here, I measured off the shortest 3/8"x6"x24" piece and then trimmed them all to match that length, since the 3/8"x6"x24" weren't all exactly the same length. They probably came out to like 23-7/8". Once the fence was set to the shortest of the 24" boards, I also cut the 1"x10" piece to match. Shopsmith speed R
1 24" cut from an 8' 1"x10" (second cut - one that's already had the 52" cut from it)
15 24" cut from all the 3/8"x6"x24" (first cut)
- Set fence & cut all the 26.5" lengths: Shopsmith speed R
Dado (groove) Cuts
- Set fence & cut through-groove of 3/8" width & 5/16" depth into the 1" (true measure 3/4") side of the boards that will hold the slats. Since the true measure of the thin side of these is 3/4", the 3/8" cut was centered with 3/16" on each side of it. Shopsmith speed M with dado blade
2 52" grooved 1"x4" This will be the front and rear bottoms of the slatted area
2 26.5" grooved 1"x4" This will be the left and right bottoms of the slatted area
1 52" grooved 1"x3" This will be the front top of the slatted area
2 26.5" grooved 1"x3" This will be the left and right tops of the slatted area
1 52" grooved 1"x10" This will be the rear top of the slatted area
- Set fence & cut through-groove of 3/8" width & 5/16" depth into the 1" (true measure 3/4") side of the boards that will hold the slats. Since the true measure of the thin side of these is 3/4", the 3/8" cut was centered with 3/16" on each side of it. Shopsmith speed M with dado blade
Rip Cuts
- Set fence & rip 1.5" widths out of the 3/8"x6"x24" boards (Shopsmith speed P)
45 1.5" wide cuts from 15 3/8"x6"x24" boards (3 1.5" cuts from each 6" wide board, with ~9/16s of excess from each. Price was $1.29 for 1 3/8"x1.5"x24" board, or $3.09 for 1 3/8"x6"x24" board, so ripping saved about $12. The excess here will be used as groove spacers.)
- Set fence & rip 1.5" widths out of the 3/8"x6"x24" boards (Shopsmith speed P)
Routing Edges
- Put 90* router bit on router, mount router in table, and set depth of bit/router in table to be flush with the edge of the bit. The bit I used had a nice ball-bearing topper on it, which is greatly preferred to a regular smooth bearing because of the speeds being used. I used the default (highest) speed on the router and achieved rather smooth cuts that will require only minimal sanding on only a few pieces, and no burn marks.
45 1.5" wide slats Round to within 5/16" of all four long edges. The 5/16" ends will go into the groove/channel. If you completely round the slats then you will have a small triangular gap between the slat and the spacer at each corner.
1 10" wide slat Round to within 5/16" of all four long edges. (Same as for the smaller slats)
2 52" grooved 1"x4" Not the grooved side, just the other two long edges.
2 26.5" grooved 1"x4" Not the grooved side, just the other two long edges
1 52" grooved 1"x3" Not the grooved side, just the other two long edges
2 26.5" grooved 1"x3" Not the grooved side, just the other two long edges
1 52" grooved 1"x10" Not the grooved side, just the other two long edges
All legs (I haven't cut the legs yet, so I'm leaving the router set up as it is for now and will cut them next)
Image Interlude
So here's what I have done so far (10/13/11):
Here're 45 slats all ready to go. The ones with the X's on the end are not perfect, so they'll be left out unless something comes up - in which case they'll be corrected as best I can and placed along the back.
This shows how the routing/routing works out - including the flat spot left at the top and bottom of each for where they'll sit in the groove.
Again (with a scrap groove) showing the fitment.
All the skinny-ends (leftovers) from ripping the 3/8"x6"x24" boards that turned into the slats. These will become the spacers (for the grooves)
The entire pile of excess so far.
This shows the groove of the two bottom/side 1"x4"x26.5" and 1"x3"x26.5" boards.
Almost everything (missing the legs, spacers, and support).
- Put 90* router bit on router, mount router in table, and set depth of bit/router in table to be flush with the edge of the bit. The bit I used had a nice ball-bearing topper on it, which is greatly preferred to a regular smooth bearing because of the speeds being used. I used the default (highest) speed on the router and achieved rather smooth cuts that will require only minimal sanding on only a few pieces, and no burn marks.
Cutting Legs
- The legs I did a lot of geometry to get just right. Using the Golden Ratio I drew and re-drew them on some of my excess pieces until I found a curve that I liked. Unfortunately, a lot of my geometry was in pencil on the excess piece and after cutting it the details lost a lot of context. In the end, the big picture was having a nice sloping curve, but making sure that it didn't pass the line where the side boards would be bolted onto the legs. Also, making sure that the legs didn't get too thin anywhere, to where they would have leverage of supporting weight over a concave shape.
- Once I cut the shape that I liked for the foot/head of each leg, I traced that onto my front and rear leg 1"x4" pieces. To have the tops match the bottoms I simply flipped my cut-out and traced it the same for each. The additional gap in the middle of the rear legs was elongated by just leaving more of a flat face going up the curve.
- Once traced, I screw together each set of legs in my excess area that would be cut/thrown away. I used screws since clamps would have prevented a lot of the angles/ease of use with the bandsaw in the next step.
- Using the bandsaw, I cut out the rough shape for all four legs, two at a time.
- Once cut the legs run against the drum sander in sets of two to clean up the marks from the bandsaw.
- After being run on the drum sander (IIRC, a 60 grit), they were sanded (on the faces/cut edge) with a finish sander with 150 grit.
Cutting Spacers
- The small spacers (2" wide) I rounded, using an hourglass shaped router bit on the router table. I measured so that the bit contacted the top and bottom of the leftover pieces of 3/8"x5/16"x24" to get an even rounding. Using the scrap piece of 1"x3" that I had grooved, I made it so that the edges of the rounding here were about 1/32" above the edges of the groove when pressed into the 1"x3".
- To achieve this, I had to cut each 24" piece three times through the router to trim them down to size. Due to the narrow-ness of what I was cutting at this point I had to have top and side fences on the feed and receive sides to avoid the router catching/chipping the pieces as they went through (as some wanted to naturally curve).
- Once they all had a good rounded face to them, I cut the pieces into 2" lengths (11 from each 24" board, with a "spare" <2" piece leftover) using the bandsaw.
Rounding Groove Rails
- Using the same hourglass-shaped routing bit used to round the spacers, I raised its height and rounded (very slightly) the edges of the groove-face/side of all the grooved rails.
Working the rear/center 1"x10"
- The rear board of 1"x10" was giving me a bit of a problem, while the front of the crib would have 15 slats, 28 (14 top and bottom) spacers, and then another 4 0.50" spacers at the far ends (left/right & top/bottom), the rear part would have had just 0.375" on each side. This is because my 1"x10" board truly measures 9.25"; whereas the 3 slats (1.5" each) + the 2 spacers (2" each) in the same area on the front only are 8.5" wide (combined). Thus, the 1"x10" piece was trimmed to be 1"x8.5" so that the lines of the slats for the front and rear portions would be even.
- From there, I used the router with a flat-cutting bit to cut the end of the board to fit into the grooves, and rounded the area made by this cut.
- Somewhere around here I lost track of what I was accomplishing each day. I sanded each piece with an electric finish sander with 150-grit sandpaper, then hand-sanded each piece with 220, then all of them again with 320.
- Once they were all sanded, I clamped & glued both sides, the front, and back, and let those all dry.
- Next, each of the four legs had a small eyebolt screwed into the bottom/foot end of them (so they could be easily hanged) - and wiped each with a rag with denatured alcohol, conditioned it with Minwax Wood Conditioner (brushed on), then stained them with Minwax Red Mahogany (brushed on).
- Each piece received 3 rubbed-on coatings of the Mahogany stain to get the darkness that I wanted without any streakiness (which I got after testing with a brush).
- After each piece was stained to a good darkness, I started in with the polyurethane finish.
A few updates... Been a while, a lot going on. That said, I'm now working on polyurethaning everything, lightly sanding with a 600grit in between, and continuing. This takes quite some time, especially considering all the sides of all the slats. The lighting in there isn't that great, so I normally work under very harsh/high light to see flaws; that doesn't translate well for photography however. Here's everything hanging in my garage for now:
& Done!
