Mattress Forum

1.   I opened up the V-Rail box and checked everything.

It was double boxed.   The outer box sustained some damage and had a hole ripped at one end.  The inner box that actually packaged the V-Rail was partially unglued.  The fasteners and instruction sheet are sealed in a substantial plastic bag and it's large enough and placed more toward the center of the box so it it unlikely to rip open or fall out.  (No lost parts, in other words.)  The legs are individually wrapped in heavy plastic.  The clamps for the slider head and foot braces are installed on those braces and not meant to be removable, so they can't get lost, either.

The center north-south brace is 2" angle steel, a single piece of it.   The slider head and foot crossbraces are 1" angle steel.   The glides are small.  The whole setup is just as pictured.  I didn't assemble it, because I will be moving and the bed is dismantled as present time.  The V-Rail looks substantial enough to hold a split box, and it's portable from one bed to another and is adjustable for several sizes.  It frees up a lot of space under the bed to use for storage.   If anything, I'd wish for about a 2" glide on each of those posts, especially for a hardwood or softwood floor.  I suppose it would not take a rocket scientist to bolt or weld a "sister" piece of 2" angle to the original one that comes with the kit, should a 3-leggeded single piece not do the job. ;-)  I have a lot of farmers and machinists and millwrights in my locale. 

2.   Headboard & footboard frame for softside water bed or conventional bedding:   My early '90s softside waterbed metal frame that's on my current metal bed is very sturdy for conventional bedding, and feels rock-solid, but it's low to the ground and it has feet everyplace.  The waterbed frame is not very friendly for underbed storage, but I love it's sturdiness.   I added a king/queen footboard bracket kit to it, and have a metal headboard and a footboard attached.   The only problem with that, and it could be corrected with a drill press and/or saw, is that the kit has a 13" entension plus the bracket, and the floration frame has about a 76" side rail, so the entension makes like a California King length extra long siderail.   Drill new holes in it and set  the entension rails back further, or cut them off shorter, would fix that.  Every week or so, I had to scoot the box spring & mattress back up toward the headboard.   (Wood blocks at the foot would also wedge it up there.)   My ex-husband weighed over 300#.  He and I could not bow or break that frame in 9 years.   I believe this frame is a Leggett & Platt, and so is the footboard bracket kit.  The extension rails bolted right on, and I didn't need to drill any holes.

Leggtt & Platt Nautilus heavy duty waterbed frame, and their foot board bracket kit bolts right onto it:

brass bed #2, headboard with low footboard, onyx trim.  This one is a regular mass produced model, but high end.  The other brass is top tier.

Who knows what that car fender on the floor belongs to?   ;-)

Knickerbocker says their frames don't accept extensions.  We'll see.  I know where to find a drill press.

Knickerbocker frames are a little taller, like 8" or so above the floor instead of 7"

Bought from http://bedframedirect.com/    Sold as Deluxe Queen Bed Frame.

4.  To attach the footboard to the Knickerbocker #750, I ordered a Legett & Platt footboard bracket kit from sleepshop.com (#H2056 kit) that includes a bracket and both Q/K 13"  and F/T 7" rail entensions.  It is made of 1.5" angle.   The two holes at the end have 1.75" center-to-center spacing, and the first hole's center is drilled 1/2" from the edge of the frame.   This kit appears to be a special packaging of the Bed Claw brand 7" and 13" extention rails, plus a foot board bracket.   Thus, the holes for the Bed Claw extensions will be on 1.75" centers, as well.   You might mave to drill one new hole and "wallow out" an existing hole in the frame rails of any brand of frame other than Legget & Platt, but you can put this kit or Bed Claw's kit on a competing brand with 1.5" angle steel rails.   You'll just have to drill holes.   In other words, if you don't want to have to enlarge holes or drill new ones, you'll probably have to use it on a Leggett & Platt frame.

So, with big heavy headboards and footboards, and also today's heavy bedding, and heavy Chevy people, lol, don't skimp on your frame.  I just have to have a head and a foot board, and I hate beds that sway.  That is why I opted to forego the rails or the freebie frame that came with the bedding, and use full freestanding "real" frames.

Here is the Knickerbocker model #750 "Triple Threat" adjustable frame for twin through queen.    It's darned sturdy, and I don't think I'll have any complaint with it.   The color is dark brown, not as black-ish as the Leggett & Platts, but not that **** brown that it appears to be in their photos.   The Leggett & Platt color is close enough match, for me.  I use a dust ruffe + comforter, or a bedsporead that goes to the floor, so I don't really care.

As expected there are two holes at the ends of the #750's rails and they don't line up with the L&P extension rails of the footboard kit.  I'll figure out where I want the new holes drilled, and those rails will make a trip to the drill press.    I'd still rather have this sturdier frame than the adjustable L&P.    This a keyhole type frame, and it locks into place and doesn't rattle.   The center support for this is an adjustable 2-piece that bolts together, has three specific widths (T, F, Q), and it is made to tightly grip the rails.  You don't have to drill any holes and bolt it to the rails, or swing it diagaonally for T or F size.     If you only wanted to put a headboard on this frame, you're good to go right out of the box.   This frame is made in the USA. and does not appear to be made on low bid,  hehe.

It's not even squared up here.  I just wanted a quick check to see it and make sure all parts are there.

I can add two more supports if I want to.

The brown glide goes in the center hole of the center support.    Casters everywhere else.  Two are locking.  Fasteners and instructions are in that bag.  No missing parts.

This is just propped on the rail, not correctly assembled.

ends of the 2-piece center support

Here are the holes in the rails.  And I forgot to measure them.   The last one is probalby 5/8" from the far end of the rail and the two holes are probably about 1" center-to-center.    The L&P bracket has two holes 1.75" apart.  To modify this frame, I have to enlarge the hole toward the end of the rail, not because it's too small, but because it's too high to meet up with the ones in the L&P extension rail.    Then I also need to drill a new hole, the center of which is 1.75" away.  Or, just drill 2 new holes someplace else on this rail.   I have to measure the rail and the bolt-on foot bracket, and see how far out I want that bracket for full and also for queen.   Then decide where the holes need to be in these rails.   Not terribly difficult.  Just not a direct bolt-on like it would be if I had bought a L&P frame insead.   (I know that's TMI for some.   But nobody selling frames knows much about them, or cares.  So here are some actual pictures.  A frame is not a frame.)

Yes, that is antique Mohawk carpet, from before my time.  It's scheduled for a shampoo.   Print sofa is a '72 with orginal upholstery.  Chair and ottoman are 1930s or '40s, reupholstered.  Old stuff is better than the new stuff, usually.

Then my mom wanted one, so I rounded up a brass and marble headboard and frame for the low, low price of just $80, plus my fuel cost to go pick it up.  That was a steal!   She was okay with just headboard since it takes up less floor space.

Hers, which is white marble,  Mine are onyx.   We all have antique furniture from Victorian era into the pre-war '40s, so modern stuff would be out of place.

This is mine, the seller's photo of it:

Today, I finally drilled the Knickerbocker frame to put the Leggett & Platt footboard kit on it.   (Had to borrow someone's drill press.)  For you sticklers, the L&P bracket kit is painted black, and the Knickerbocker is dark brown.   

I ignored the "South" hole in the bed frame.   I used the "North" hole that is already drilled in the bed frame, but I had to open it up a little at the bottom because it was drilled too high to match up with the "South" hole in the L&P rail.   Then I drilled a new hole in the bed frame to mate with the "North" hole in the L&P bracket.    That "railroad steel" Knickerbocker uses is good stuff.  You'll want to use a drill press and some cutting oil and some very sharp bits, because it's hard to drill.     (North is toward the headboard end, and South is toward the footboard end.)

With the 13" rail and the footbracket and the Knickerbocker #750 frame assembled, the total frame rail length from inside edge of the headboard bracket to the inside edge of the footboard bracket is almost 82"    That is 82" where the mattress sits, so you have 1" extra at either end if you have an 80" mattress.   Perfect.   Most queen bed rails that I checked the specs on are 82" and some are 81.5" so I ended up with a standard length of rail.

So, I think my idea worked.  I now have a heady duty convertible F/Q bed frame that accepts headboard and footbaord plus has the correct rail length for both full and queen. The only possible problem might be height, i.e. will the slots in the footboard bracket line up with the holes in the footboard.  If that's a problem, it's easily solved with mod brackets.

It was starting to rain, so I didn't bother to check what happens with the shorter 7" T/F extension rail.   If the difference between the two rails is 13-7=6", then I'll have about 76" long rails for the full size bed.   But if those are too short, I can always use the 13" rails and just drill 2 more holes in the rails and slide the rails further up in the frame, until I have 76" or 77" long rails for a full size mattress.   No big deal.