First off… I have no wood-working experience. I made my cuts as close as possible (not perfect) and eyeballed everything (no level or square used)… and it turned out perfectly fine. I think this design is fairly forgiving… and it’s sitting on carpet… so that helps too. My final results yielded a great looking (to me), solid frame, which holds 400 lbs of people easily… please use common sense, I am def. not qualified to provide advice on structural safety, so use this design at your own risk.
Second off… this is not really my design… I took elements from several different builds… and just combined the laziest/simplest possible way I could think to do it.
Total Material cost = $95.00 (Home Depot)
Equipment needed = Tape measure, Decent Power Drill (probably best if it’s plugged one, required lot of drilling), 3/8 drill bit, 2-crescent wrenches (used to tighten bolts)
Optional Equipment needed = clamps would make it easier, however another set of hands also works fine, some type of saw to cut the wood down to size (home depot/lowes will do this for free for you, if you go in with your measurements)
HERE COMES THE MATH:
Figure out exactly what size frame you need. I got a king size 10’ Tuff & Needle, so I knew I wanted an 80 inch by 76 inch frame (standard king size). If I was building it for a queen size, I’d probably cut out one of the middle supports. Use common sense.
(C) should always be your desired length (80’ in my case)
(D) should always be your desired width MINUS 3 inches (1.5 x2), that (C) already covers for you (assuming your 2x4 is really 3.5x1.5 like most are) (73’ in my case)
(E) should always be same length as (C) MINUS 3 inches (1.5 x2), that (D) already covers for you. (77’ in my case)
My suggestion is to look at design schematic + pictures… and make sure you fully understand why the math makes sense.
Other misc. notes: Use screws on the supply list to attach L-bracket and slats (1 will do). I used a 3 inch spacing between slats, but you can go smaller if you want (do not suggest going bigger)