I'm trying to fix my wooden ottoman bed and I think I know what needs to be done - but definitely lack the experience to do it confidently.
Basically the gaslift hinges (see pic) have been creaking loud enough to wake me up at night. I've tried installing two replacement sets of hinges and after a couple of days noise-free they've both started making the same racket.
I'm now pretty certain there's an alignment problem with the bed. When screwing the hinges to the slat frame (on top), I noticed that as soon as one side was attached I had to physically pull the other hinge inwards so that it also lined up with the screwholes. The second hinge didn't sit neatly with the holes on the slat frame (see pics). These hinges are quite flexible horizontally so they allow you to pull them back and forth, but I'm sure the pressure is building up and causing the noise.
My only options left are to either buy a brand new bed (not good...) or make one side of the bed thicker on the inside. This would shift the position where the hinges rest naturally so they're lined up with the slats.
So I'm thinking...
1. Get some wood 900mm (more than the width of the hinges) x 280mm (nearly the height of the bed frame) x 20mm (the current depth of the misalignment). Then I'd bolt it to the inside of the wooden frame where the pre-existing side holes are sitting. I'm thinking 4 x 2 columns of wingbolts would be enough to clamp it good. The existing side is 2.5cm thick, so the bolts need to feed through 4.5cm of wood.
2. Then I have to fit the hinges to this newly installed side. At the moment the hinges attach with 4x M6 15mm socket screws which go into threaded metal holes in the existing side (see pic). Fortunately, the hinge has several openings for side screws so I should be able to avoid these 4 areas and still get a tight fix. But I'm unsure what screws to use... can I use regular wood screws that will get a grip by themselves? Or should I use the same socket screws? And if the latter, what are their threaded metal receptacles called? Do I need to use them or can I tap the thread into the wood itself somehow?
(An alternative would be to line up the side holes perfectly and then drill through to the existing threads in the original wood. But I'm wary of that because of a) the precision needed to line them up perfectly, and b) I'm not sure if a longer 35mm socket screw would get sufficient grip as only the end 15mm would find its way to a thread)
It'd be a simple job if I knew what I'm doing but I'm completely useless with this stuff. Got the will but not necessarily the skill. So before I attempt this can anyone tell me if this sounds like a decent plan? E.G. will the new side wood have sufficient strength with 8 bolts? And what's my best course of action with the socket screws / threads / alternative screws?
After weeks of failed fixes starting with WD40 this is my last chance at saving £400. Thanks to anyone who can help and sorry for the poor terminology - I described everything as best as I could!
