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My wife has been after me for a long time (measured in years) to build a bed for our king sized Tempurpedic mattress. After she threatened to go out and buy one, I finally sprang into action and ordered some wood (curly maple). Other than sheer procrastination, and being intimidated watching Allen build a bed in what seems like less than an hour, the thing that has bothered me about building a bed is that she suffers from gastrointestinal reflux disease GIRD and our current cheapo metal frame sits up on blocks about 3" so the head board slants away from the wall at a screwy looking angle. Sleeping at that angle usually results in me waking up half off the bed, so I want my side flat. I didn't want to build a bed and then have to put it up on blocks and make it look funny and subject it to racking forces. I also didn't want to have to have a support leg in the middle of the bed to keep the whole thing from sagging. Using steel tubing for the mattress base should eliminate the need for a middle leg. I checked some deflection tables and 1 1/2"x 2 1/2" deflects less than two tenths under a 500# load...even less if it's secured at the ends. I will have a fab shop cut the tubing and make the brackets for me (or I can use the project as an excuse to buy a welder and dry cut metal saw) I'm concerned there isn't enough room for bedding (1" top and bottom and 1/2" each side) and the post tops are a bit much. The bed as my first Sketchup woodworking project, so it's a bit ragged, but here is the result for your comments and suggestions...if anyone can tell me how to reduce the .skp file I'll post it too: