Zee’s Jeep Bed
Zachary turned two in March 2011. He was very intent on doing things himself. Climbing into the high chair, the car seat, and attempting to climb into the crib. It was time to get a toddler bed for him.
We made the decision when we were shopping for a crib that we were going to get something simple. They make many very nice looking convertible cribs. We even had a favorite (that was well over $800). Cara and I made the decision to just get the basics and get something nicer when we needed a bed for him. In the back of my mind I knew I wanted to get him a car bed (or something equally creative).
So now we were faced with that decision. The typical “race car bed” is a plastic bed that frankly, kind of sucks. I even found looking online for other beds, anything worth for a childish imagination was cheap. I decided to make something instead. With his somewhat typical boy interests I figured it had to be construction equipment, perhaps a train, or a Jeep. I opted for a Jeep, but I was going to do it right.
I sketched out a few ideas in my moleskin notebook. It actually fell together pretty easily. Armed with a good idea and a sketch, I started to design the particulars in Illustrator (not really a great CAD application, but it will do in a pinch).
When I had finally finished the center island for the kitchen, I made the trip to Lowes to gather materials. Originally I had planned on building the base out of 3/4″ MDF, and the top out of 1/2″ MDF, but Lowes doesn’t stock 1/2″ MDF so I decided to make it all out of 3/4″. In some ways this made things easier, even if it weighs a ton. I also bought 2x4s and some poplar hardwood for the details.
I had precomputed rough cuts. MDF is really, really messy to work with (and one sheet of 3/4″ is too heavy for one person to carry). You really want to do as much as possible outside, so the same day I got the MDF back to the house I set up saw horses and cut everything into manageable chunks. Everything was marked and carted down into the basement.
Since the whole bed was based around the mattress in the crib, I built the box for the mattress first. Inside the box I used 2x4s and poplar stringers to carry the weight of the mattress. The legs of the bed would carry the weight of the 2x4s and the mattress box together so I wasn’t too worried about those pieces carrying the weight of each other.
I really wanted everything to look professional. I decided it wouldn’t make sense to try to cut circles on the bandsaw without a jig. As I started thinking about how to build a good circle jig for the bandsaw I realized it made more sense to use the router. My routers are rarely used tools, so I was more than happy to whip up a quick jig to cut circles.
I started by cutting a 23″ diameter partial circle with my jig. This would be used as a template for my wheel arches. My next circle was a 20″ diameter for the outside of the wheel, then finally an inside 6″ circle for the center of the wheel.
I used a 1″ flush trim router bit a lot in the construction of my pieces. I would rough cut my piece using a jigsaw, then clamp my template to the bottom and run the router along. I would use straight pieces of wood clamped in place to get nice straight edges without saw marks. I constructed one side of the jeep this way, utilizing my wheel arch template piece to cut the wheel arches. The end product was a nice clean looking piece.
My second side was rough cut, then I clamped the two sides together and used the flush trim bit to make everything even. The end product was two matching sides.
The front grill was created in a similar fashion. I used my circle jig to cut the curve of the hood and the headlights. I created a jig of a single grill slat, then rough cut, clamped, and matched the slat four times to create a clean look. The tailgate and the hood I gut a dado edge, glued, clamped, and screwed them into place.
Once the body “box” had been built I added an inner support that would help stiffen the box, but also be used as the lip that would allow the body to sit on the mattress box.
In the meantime I started construction of the wheels. The wheels are made of three layers of MDF and a 2×4 backing. Each wheel will sandwich the mattress box with the 2×4 on the inside and the MDF on the outside. The outside “layer” of MDF has a hole cut in the center. The second “layer” matches the first, but without the hole in the center. The third “layer” was only a partial circle.
I glued and screwed the third layer to my rough cut 2x4s. Then built a simple guide for the bandsaw, replicating the flush trim router bit. I could then run the rough cut 2x4s through the band saw and have it match the curve of the wheel. My MDF wheel layer would ride against the guide on the band saw allowing me to match the shape exactly without cutting into the MDF. I replicated this for the other three wheels.
I then glued and screwed the second layer to the wheel. My last step was to glue the top layer to the wheel (this is the only non-structural part so I wasn’t worried about the screws).
Back on the body I cut and attached the dashboard, then I built and attached the windshield. The windshield was made out of poplar (because it would have never survived if I made it from MDF).
Now came the mind numbing part. I had to cut the ribs for the hood. I built a curve template, screwed it to a 2×4 and ran it through the band saw. I needed to do this a total of 26 times to make enough ribs for the entire hood.
I then glued each rib together and clamped 13 together to make one piece. Once dried I ran the hood edges through the table saw to even out the edges, then the whole thing was glued and screwed into place on the body.
The next weekend I carted everything outside. With my large belt sander I smoothed the curves of the hood. I used a 1/4″ round-over bit for the router and hit all the edges to give it a nice finished look. I used a coat of body filler on the curve of the hood to fill in the irregularities of the 2x4s.
Now it was ready for paint. A nice olive drab for the body and black for the mattress box. A little masking for the wheels and a star on the hood and it was ready for assembly.
