Wilding Wallbeds is occasionally approached by customers who are trying meet a specific need that they can’t find anywhere else. Most of the time the custom requests are a piece of cake and go through production without a hitch. Others, however, require considerable time doing research and development to get it just right.

Several years ago, the Granger Medical Clinic in northern Utah was looking for an exam table that could fold up out of the way when not in use. That sounded just like a murphy bed, which we happen to know a thing or two about. And so started the R&D process.

The exam table needed a pivot point and pistons to assist with raising and lowering. The first goal was to find out exactly where to place the pistons so the weight would lift just right. We also had the idea of adding a hardwood actuator to the table’s front legs that would cause the legs to open and close as the exam table was raised and lowered. We’ve found the easiest way to figure something like this out is to build it and start testing.

We started off with a 2 dimensional concept drawing with the approximate sizes the customer was looking for.

The next step was to draw it up with our advanced cabinet software, Cabinet Vision. This software allows us to build the cabinet in a virtual 3D space and verify everything will fit together. The Cabinet Vision drawing was sent down to the CNC Router that cut out all of the plywood parts exactly as we had drawn them up. All the hardwood parts were milled, glued and cut to size from a cut list generated from Cabinet Vision.

We often make a bare bones, unfinished prototype and see what changes need to be made before the final product is produced and sent to the customer. We went through a trial and error process, figuring things out and adjusting the coordinates and sizes of various parts. The Drop Down Exam Table has been a huge success and we have sold several to Sleep Clinics throughout the country. This is a perfect example of how Wilding Wallbeds beautifully met a customer’s unique space saving need.

Written by Eric Warden
Technical Shop Drawings and Design