Joint suggestions for cot end panel?

[boomish]

My carpentry skills used to be pretty good but am a bit out of practice, I'm building a cot and I've finished on merging two designs, a combination of wood available and the design finishes.

The end panel is going to be 68x20 side uprights & top rail (American White Ash) with 120 x 20 horizontal rails to make the internal panel.

This image is something like it,

but the top will be a flat 44x20 with a rounded edge like the one below

Any suggestions on how to construct the end panel? I was thinking dowels or Mortice & tenon, unfortunately because of the milling wastage my top rails are too short to go right across , so it'll have to be the side rails right to the top , but with the top moulding I think it'll look ok.

Something like this, excuse my not to scale sketch , I was thinking of V joint finish, I don't have a workshop but I do have a router, and am getting a router table to round off the side slats etc, I also have a biscuit cutter. So far am thinking some kind of simple central rebate in the sides then tongue the cross rails so they can slide into place, then maybe a few biscuits to join them together, or a small 5mm half overlap rebate but I'm worried about them splitting or movement. as this isn't really a thin panel should I be concerned? the biscuits will be simple and keep the wood together of cramped up ok?

Really appreciate any advice as I said its such an important job and I'm nervous of getting it wrong. Last thing I'm not doing a drawer ..

Many thanks

Alan

 

[MikeG.]

I'd do a mortice & tenon, but you could also do it as a standard paneled cabinet door, with a tenon on the top and bottom rail glued into a continuous groove in the stiles, which take the ends of the (dry-fitted) panel members.

 

[boomish]

Thanks Mike,

Thats what I was thinking, ahh good point of dry fitting the panel members. How about between the boards, a glued butt joint? a few biscuits?
or dry joint a small overlap or a central groove to house a tenon so they can expand & contract without a gap opening .

Appreciate the help I"m really unsure whats the best course of action.

Alan

 

[MikeG.]

There's ways to make any of them work. Frankly, it's an odd look you're going for, with just horizontal boards (as I understand it). There's absolutely no need for biscuits, and yes, those boards can be edge-jointed into a solid panel. But, as I say, that's an unusual look.

 

[boomish]

Thanks again Mike, oh gosh you think it’s too weird? It was supposed be a recessed panel, it came down to what they got out of the cut, Plus after seeing so many designs out there the white cot design I’ve posted seems close to the original they liked and simple to build.
I did think it’s odd to have horizontal boards, I initially thought of a T&G look vertically, until I saw that pic.
Do think same design but put boards vertically to make it look more traditional? I’d have to put a top & bot rail but I think I have enough to do 3” at the bot & 2 at the top. Again this is not to scale but something like this..

 

[MikeG.]

The oddness was both with the horizontal boards in the panel, and the fact that they were flush with the frame. Making them vertical and still flush with the frame is only a minor improvement in my view. I'd either do a raised panel, or plane those boards down to 10mm or less. Or, indeed, use ply or MDF in a flat panel.

Twenty mm is a bit flimsy for the frame of a cot, though, so you're going to need a robust corner detail, and take care with all of the joints/ junctions etc to prevent the final structure being a bit too floppy.

 

[boomish]

Your a star thanks again for the reply, hmm yes being flushed bothered me until I saw the first image , I asked the cutting guy for 15mm but he convinced me to keep the boards at 20mm and do V joints. I didn’t want to use MDF and getting a veneered ply was going to cost even more though I did think it’ll be so much easier
As for being 20mm thin your right and now you’ve got me concerned, but I looked at a lot of cot designs, all using 20mm. Maybe I should have gone with 2x2 , I could change the design to one other my daughter liked.

This looked odd to me but by turning the 3x1 sideways it would strengthen the ends and solve the panel look, I would lose the top mould idea however and the corner joints won’t be that great I suppose the panel would make it strong enough however ..what do you think?
Appreciate the help I so want to get it right.

 

[AndyT]

Answering your question about corner joints... Have you looked at the very smart cot by Cusimar9 in the projects section?
His frame is 20mm thick. For the corners he used dowels for alignment and furniture bolts for holding together. This has the extra advantage that the finished cot can be dismantled into a set of easily stored parts when it's not needed.

oak-cot-bed-wip-t91824.html

 

[boomish]

Thanks Andy I had forgotten that, yes an excellent project build, I’m building mine in the back garden so I might take the dowel route, anything to simplify it a little