My bedframe has a large gap under the headboard, so my pillow keeps falling off the end of the bed. I decided to fix this by making a board to go in the empty space.
Step 1: Obtain a quarter-sheet of ¼" hardboard from Discount Builders Supply, a local store down the street from me.
Step 2: Take board on the bus to Noisebridge to use their shop.
Step 3: Cut board to size on the table saw. (All photos involving power tools were staged while the tool was turned off, for safety.)
At this point I hit a snag—one edge of the board needed to be cut at a sharp angle in order to fit my bedframe, but the table saw could only cut up to 45°. After puttering around with some ideas for making a jig or trying to do the cut on a bandsaw, I decided to consult my dad, who knows quite a lot about this sort of thing. He offered some advice on how a production shop would design a jig, but suggested that for my purposes it was probably easier to just sand the edge at an angle.
I bought some sandpaper and headed back to Noisebridge, but when I got there someone pointed out that they have a belt sander, which made quick work of the project once I tracked down where the sanding supplies had ended up during the move.
Finally I drilled some countersink holes for the screws to go into when I attached it to the bedframe. (I’m not sure if this was actually necessary but I figured it couldn’t hurt.)
Then I took it home, attached it with some wood screws...
...et voilà! My pillow is no longer in peril of plummeting.
