The furniture bank got a number of bunk beds donated from a college dorm rehab.  All is well, except the headboards and footboards come in separate uppers and lowers.  So we need to join them by the existing holes.   They are about 1" - 1.25" deep and 3/8" diameter.   The posts are about 3" square for reference.  On the prototype, we got some bar stock and used an angle grinder to chop off lengths.  Now we need about 150 pins to connect the remaining ones, doing about 5 bunk beds a week (20 pins).   Trying to find an efficient and cost-effective solution.

The also don't have any ladders, so the head- and foot-boards will be used climbing up and down,

 

• Does anyone know of a good place to get such pins, relatively cheaply?   The cheapest I could find was about $2.50 each and the most expensive $5.
• Spending the time do to cutting off will cost about $1 per bed, but take time
• If we cannot find cheap metal ones, do you think that wood dowel pins would be strong enough?   We can get those easily.

I'd check a local machine shop. Maybe they could set up a run using their horizontal bandsaw

A hand held bandsaw will cut faster (and with a little less mess, no sparks) than an angle grinder (rented). Maybe a chop saw with a metal cutoff blade and a stop. But inthinking about the use of a wooden dowel. They only purpose is to keep the legs aligned, it won't carry weight; so it's seems to me the wooden dowel would be sufficient.

As a kid, my little brother and I had bunkbeds, They were pinned with wooden dowels. Eventually we lifted the top one off to have two single beds.

3/8" dowels cut to length.

 

from the amazon:

 

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08298VGFL?pd_rd_i=B08298VGFL&pf_rd_p=b000e0a0-9e93-480f-bf78-a83c8136dfcb&pf_rd_r=1ZAV19K30J72F2WPXMH2&pd_rd_wg=HY9tB&pd_rd_w=QohIO&pd_rd_r=f25ec8ce-7d2c-49c6-9fd5-bc2e381eede8&th=1

 

25 pieces, 3/8x24long, $27.

 

done.

You might try McMaster Carr.  Search for dowel pins. 

https://www.mcmaster.com/dowels/diameter~3-8/dowel-pins-7/?SrchEntryWebPart_InpBox=3%2F8"+x+3"+steel+pins

Somewhere long ago I did a short production run of my 2-legged model stand design which used 3/8" x 3" long steel pins between the legs and the cross bar. 

https://4dfurniture.blogspot.com/2022/07/a-simple-landscape-model-stand.html

I know I found a source that was inexpensive but I think that was for 100ct order as I remember coming across a box of them that we hadn't used before I retired. 

4D

https://www.aftfasteners.com/3-8-x-1-dowel-pins-alloy-steel-bright-finish-100-pkg/?gclid=CjwKCAiA5Y6eBhAbEiwA_2ZWIf_jn8oaEdC4L7l4A0OZYPG6_3je8SDgCHbLV8Dh8aM4BS8qYbEQMxoCuBEQAvD_BwE

 

https://www.aftfasteners.com/3-8-x-2-dowel-pins-alloy-steel-bright-finish-100-pkg/?gclid=CjwKCAiA5Y6eBhAbEiwA_2ZWIei995qsftUFJ7IU3CY1wsZbObte2_TxurG-C6GBsZMrJshWqnHlpBoCeLUQAvD_BwE

 

How long do you need them to be?

Edited January 15, 20233 yr by HandyDan

When I was a social worker Lowes and Home Depot would donate. Ask for the manager on duty and explain your situation. You maybe surprised. 

20 hours ago, HandyDan said:

https://www.aftfasteners.com/3-8-x-2-dowel-pins-alloy-steel-bright-finish-100-pkg/?gclid=CjwKCAiA5Y6eBhAbEiwA_2ZWIei995qsftUFJ7IU3CY1wsZbObte2_TxurG-C6GBsZMrJshWqnHlpBoCeLUQAvD_BwE

 

How long do you need them to be?

Thanks, that seemed to be the best deal.   We just ordered 200 

Try a local sheet metal (HVAC duct) fabricator, ask for a donation.  They have shears that will simply cut the rod, and if they have an apprentice program, they'll simply have one of the new guys stamp them out.

 

On 1/15/2023 at 1:28 PM, kmealy said:

do you think that wood dowel pins would be strong enough?

 

Absolutely! All the bunk beds back in the day were set like that, my own kids beds were set like that, like Dab said, 3/8" dowels cut to length. It doesn't take much to keep those beds aligned and set in place. I think metal pins are overkill and probably mandated by some furniture building code, because somewhere, somehow, two child brothers were fighting in their top bunk and creating a havoc, throwing each other up against the wall, kicking and screaming, and the top bunk mis aligned during the melee and slid off and a kid broke a bone and a class action lawsuit happened. One a million instance.

 

Our daughters bunk beds came with dowel pins made of wood, same diameter, and believe me, they got into it a few times over something or another, and those beds never slid apart.

On 1/15/2023 at 3:53 PM, lew said:

As a kid, my little brother and I had bunkbeds, They were pinned with wooden dowels. Eventually we lifted the top one off to have two single beds.

Identical to my experience.  Younger brother and I had bunkbeds.  Two scars on my head for falling off (and landing head first on a Tonka dump truck) when leaning over the edge to talk to him. The side rails just laid on the end rails and apparently came off easily if a 4 year old hung over them. Twenty years later I made a set of bunk beds for my sister's kids and the side rails bolted into the posts.  The beds I slept on were stacked on a wood dowel on the top of the corner posts that tucked into a matching hole on the bottom of the posts.