- lower - to serve as a seat
- middle - to serve as a permanent bed
- upper - to stow away in order to have the large load compartment
The design consist of four corner posts with rollers moving inside the posts and attached to the bad frame.
For the posts I chose the 100PD Series Pocket Door Track and Hardware Set from Home Depot. The track is aluminum and the rollers are plastic on a steel frame. The aluminum track is not sturdy enough to reliably hold the heavy bed/seat with people , so I made four reinforcement pieces from the steel C-channel positioned at the low and middle attachment points. 
The front middle C-channel piece with the track in it is screwed by two bolts to the horizontal middle frame.
The rear piece is similarly
attached to the intersection of the rear vertical frame and middle horizontal frame.
attached to the intersection of the rear vertical frame and middle horizontal frame.
The front bottom C-channel is bolted to the steel angle that is attached to the wheel box and the track additionally attached at the very bottom to the wheel box. The bottom rear is bolted to the rear vertical frame column. 
The top part of the track is inserted in the cut-in in the top horizontal frame and secured with the small plates. These attachment points do not carry any significant load, so I did not do any reinforcement.
Each hardware set includes two rollers. Although roller look quite sturdy, I decided to combine the together to make one super sturdy roller with 6 wheels. The pictures below show details of this construction.
The biggest challenge making this construction was the fact that there are no straight and plumb lines and surfaces in the van. Thus, measuring, positioning and bolting poses huge problems. The main objective of measuring and positioning is that all four posts have to be exactly parallel and on the same exactly distance one from another to ensure that the bed frame could move up and down. Each attachment point has to be individually thought over, tried, drilled, retried, holes tweaked, etc. , until the needed tolerance is achieved. The fully assembled tracks with rollers are shown below.
The bed frame is was assembled from steel angle pieces, bolted together and then each intersection welded. This provided needed rigidity. The bed frame size is 46"x70", however the actual bed size is 52"x70 counting the space from the frame to rear door or even 52"x74" if the space between the bed frame and windows is included. In the middle, the frame is narrower than on the sides to accommodate sitting position
Attaching the frame to the moving rollers is quite tricky, since the frame fits snag to the tracks. The roller assembly has to be disassembled, the roller plates bolted to the frame and then the rollers are pushed inside the tracks and bolted to the roller plate.
At the bottom position, the frame sits on the two wooden posts in the front and on two support plates bolted to the rear van frame posts. In the middle and upper position the frame will rest on the pins, whose position will be determined later when the actual seat/bed will be constructed or bought (trying to find a suitable reclining leather futon)
The biggest challenge making this construction was the fact that there are no straight and plumb lines and surfaces in the van. Thus, measuring, positioning and bolting poses huge problems. The main objective of measuring and positioning is that all four posts have to be exactly parallel and on the same exactly distance one from another to ensure that the bed frame could move up and down. Each attachment point has to be individually thought over, tried, drilled, retried, holes tweaked, etc. , until the needed tolerance is achieved. The fully assembled tracks with rollers are shown below.
The bed frame is was assembled from steel angle pieces, bolted together and then each intersection welded. This provided needed rigidity. The bed frame size is 46"x70", however the actual bed size is 52"x70 counting the space from the frame to rear door or even 52"x74" if the space between the bed frame and windows is included. In the middle, the frame is narrower than on the sides to accommodate sitting position
Attaching the frame to the moving rollers is quite tricky, since the frame fits snag to the tracks. The roller assembly has to be disassembled, the roller plates bolted to the frame and then the rollers are pushed inside the tracks and bolted to the roller plate.
At the bottom position, the frame sits on the two wooden posts in the front and on two support plates bolted to the rear van frame posts. In the middle and upper position the frame will rest on the pins, whose position will be determined later when the actual seat/bed will be constructed or bought (trying to find a suitable reclining leather futon)
Just curious how this raises and lowers. Does it take 2 people to hold it and pin it? Are you happy with the design?
ReplyDeleteYes, it takes two people to raise it and pin it. However, this is not supposed to be a frequent operation. In most travels the bed will be in the middle sleeping position. Very rarely I might need to put it in the bottom position when i'd need to have more than four people on board or in top position, when I'd need to haul large stuff.
ReplyDeleteI do not know if I am happy or not - not finished and not really tested. Yet to do the bed actually, which should be convertible (bed/seat). Options: find a nice futon of needed size or make it. Have not decided yet.