I tend to go overboard garage sale-ing and I've accumulated a collection of small Chelsea Barbie dolls (and Kelly, which are even smaller) for my daughter to play with. But where will they all sleep? The dollhouse gets over crowded with lots of little beds.

During my 3D printing searches, I did find a large Barbie bunk bed (this was a few years ago) but didn't really see the one for smaller ones. So, using the large one as inspiration, I decided to design a sturdy and pretty bunk bed for smaller child-sized dolls.

Instructable 383

Supplies

Tinkercad for design

3D Printer - I have a Bambu X1 Carbon

PLA Filament

Glue - I've tried MANY different types of glue for 3D printing so you can use whatever you like best. I usually use Weld-On 4 Acrylic Adhesive because it has a nice fine tip applicator, but many options should work for this.

Kid Barbie Bunk Bed

Step 1: Design Base

I started by making a mockup of the doll for size using one of the children from the Tinkercad Shapes Panel. I made it a little large because I wanted to make sure the bed wouldn't be too small. This was both to get height and width.

The base of the bed I kept simple but still wanted strong. I decided to go with a lattice pattern for strength and made it fairly thick so it wouldn't bend when the doll was on it.

For the top bunk, I made some decorative arches for sides since all bunk beds should have sides on the tops for kids because they like to fall out of bed. The bottom bed just had sides that stick up a little because it seemed practical.

I used the Duplicate feature to get the arches spaced nicely along the sides.

Step 2: Design Headboard and Footboard

Now that I had the bunks, I needed to plan the headboard and footboard.

I needed to keep in mind how far up I wanted the bottom bunk to sit, and from there how far up from there the next bunk should be. I mostly worked around my mocked up doll to get an idea. I didn't want it to be too squished in there especially if a "mattress" or blanket or pillows were to be added.

Then, to decorate, I wanted some curly designs, but I'm not great at freehanding those with Scribble. So, I decided to play around with just a regular S and see what I could do.

I did some distorting, rotating, and general moving around to get the design shown.

For the footboard, I removed some of it and then made it shorter in general so it would be distinguishable from the headboard.

Step 3: Design Tabs for Gluing

Now that I had my pieces, I wanted tabs to help hold it together. I was also planning to use glue, but gluing a flatbed to a flat headboard wouldn't have a strong hold.

I made the tab stick out and gave it just about .1mm around for clearance. I wanted it to fit, but also not be too loose. You can do some test prints/fits before finalizing and printing the whole thing out.

The ends of both beds need the tabs sticking out, and the head and footboards need the slots cut into them.

Step 4: Design Ladder

I decided to add a ladder because the kids need someway to get to the top bunk ;)

I designed it to slip over the top of the bunk edge and notch on and also print well flat with no supports. It was made very basically with just a bunch of cubes.

I didn't worry about a tight fit onto the bed. It just needed to be able to sit there nicely.

Step 5: Finished Bunk Bed

Look how nicely those dolls fit in the bunk :)

As mentioned, everything should print nicely flat on the bed including the ladder.

I didn't use any special settings to print.

Step 6: Assembly

Now to glue and assemble the bed.

You need the 4 bed pieces; the ladder can just be set aside.

You can use your glue of choice, but I found it works best to glue in both beds on one side. Then glue the other side on and make sure it is going to dry straight. Since the tabs aren't large or super tight, there can be some sway, so make sure it doesn't droop to one side or another. You can use some clamps to help.