Rock n' Roll Hinges - alternatives

Website · Post by **CovKid** » 22 Sep 2006, 07:06

For the ingenious amongst you, I'm passing on my observations here.

I'm converting my Caravelle to a compact camper and I'm at the stage where I need to create the bed. I've scoured the net and theres not ONE instance of anyone looking at other options apart from the stock hinges at JK. I'm suprised at this frankly.

I gather that rock n' roll hinges are otherwise called 'futon hinges' and since many bed-settees actually perform the same action, presumably parts from a scrap futon bed will do the job very well. Its possible that some reclining chairs (check out the mechanism) could also do the same job with a little thought.

I mention this because £60 seems one heck of a lot of money for these things and I see so many of these contraptions at my local tip so clearly they do become available as second-hand items. In fact I'm seriously considering canabilising my favourite armchair (which was actually given to me) for the mechanism. It looks more substantial than the JK ones and if you do a search for recliner spares, you'll find some of them are in excess of £150 a pair new!

I'm all for recycling as much as I can and it beats me why no one has really looked into this. Certainly recliner or futon mechanisms if mounted correctly would perform this movement and many of these hinges are very beefy affairs.

With bed settees, you're dealing with a large floppy matttress but in a camper you need to be able to leave a gap for seatbelts to come through. This shouldn't be a problem since you'd be using two cushions instead

Food for thought anyway!

Post by **guz** » 22 Sep 2006, 07:35

mine's made of ply, 1" box section steel,
a couple of steel hinges and a bit of thinking,
Timbertech Dave uses the same design.

Website · Post by **CovKid** » 22 Sep 2006, 07:57

I'd be curious to know if anyone manages to pick up on this and adapt recliner or futon hinges - if you do, please post here.

This is it Guz, I guess there are many ways of skinning a cat (poor moggy) including manually pulling out boards like the earlier campers but the advantage of the 'slide' mechanism is its space saving ability and ease of use I guess. That said, I'll check out the way yours is done as that may actually be sufficient.

Maybe I'm too much of a miser to fork out £60 but theres a gut feeling that they're priced like this because the assumption is that theres no alternative. Personally I think there is - a glut of them if you can take the time to disassemble a scrap bed-settee or reclining chair.

Post by **vanjam** » 22 Sep 2006, 08:16

I've been wondering the same thing, my bed's due for new fabric and just works on a bog standard hinge, i wondered what benefits these special hinges bring, there is a home made design on keith and sylias site , but it doesn't include a drawing:

http://www.keithandsylvia.co.uk/tech%20 ... _plans.htm

cheers
Jim

Website · Post by **CovKid** » 22 Sep 2006, 08:40

Yes I saw that but agree, its not overly helpful without a diagram.

I sat there last night watching the mechanism of my recliner and mounted the right way round it will definately do the job. I did toy with the idea of taking apart my existing double seat from the middle of the van, and in theory it could be utilised but there are practicalities in terms of lying on it because the central armrest isn't something I'd want to roll on to!

Clearly I'll need to make cushions out of high density foam but thats really a cosmetic thing. You also have to make sure that the boards/seat can't come adrift so safety has to ride high in any adaptation. The essential bit is getting the recliner hinges fitted and the base and back secure.

E D I T:

Another thing that occured to me as I'm converting is that I go from 7 seats to just four. The spot behind the passenger seat (on right hand drive vehicles) is usually occupied by a cupboard of some sort in campers. I've never liked this much as your hand can get jammed around the corner trying to open or close the sliding door. My father drives a Hackney cab and these have great drop-down (folding) seats in the back that clearly have to meet exacting safety standards. The mounting for these is exactly at the right level to bolt on to the passenger bulkhead and the seat can fold up when not in use. Whilst I may lose that little bit of storage space, the addition of the seat outweighs it I think.

Post by **kathyshack** » 22 Sep 2006, 15:30

i made my bed out of futon hinges! it works alright, although it sits higher when pulled out, so i needed to make a bed base for the back. This does the trick quite well in terms of sleeping etc, but it does mean that if you want to get to the under seat storage, the back bed base hinders the lifting of the seat.
Rock n roll hinges allow you to lift the seat without the back rest moving. Futon hinges dont, so when you lift the seat the back rest needs to move too. Bed base stops you from lifting it up fully. If i where to do it again, i'd make the bed base smaller with a wooden flap which folded over and sat on the seat section, if that makes sense?
All in all it works a treat and has been fine for the 3 years we've had our van

if you want any pics let me know

Website · Post by **CovKid** » 22 Sep 2006, 17:23

Yeah - pics would be great. I can get some idea of how you did yours then. I guess there are hinges and hinges though - some may work better than others.

Post by **kathyshack** » 27 Sep 2006, 15:35

hi cov kid.
finally took those pics for you.
let me have your e-mail address and i'll send em ya

Website · Post by **CovKid** » 27 Sep 2006, 22:51

Right, heres Kathy's Rock n Roll bed:

http://www.midivan.co.uk/midivan/forum/ ... l_bed.html

If anyone else has made a DIY bed for the back of their camper, please let me know so I can add another 'How To' to the link. More ideas the better.

Thank you Kathy!

Would a moderator be kind enough to add the above link to the WIKI?

Post by **kathyshack** » 28 Sep 2006, 10:33

I'm going to do a proper writeup on this, so might be best to wait till its done before putting on wiki.
Kathy

Website · Post by **CovKid** » 28 Sep 2006, 16:33

Yeah you can do it more justice than me but the links there if anyone wants to see what we're on about.

I also added: http://www.midivan.co.uk/midivan/forum/ ... d_bed.html sent to me by Neil today

Keep those ideas coming! Must be a lot of DIY attempts at beds and cupboards - worth including.