| Typical Hospital Bed
Assembly: |
| Most brand/model hospital
beds assemble in the same manner and can be done in a matter of
minutes. Both Full-electric, semi-electric and manual hospital beds
assemble the same way. There are slight variations depending on
model/year. Example, newer full-electric hospital beds may have
one single motor instead of three separate motors. |
| Spring
section
The foot-spring and head-spring
sections latch together in the center. This is best achieved by
setting these sections on their side approximately 90° from each other
as in the figure below:
|
|
Hook the bottom head spring center mounting latch to the bottom foot
spring center mounting rivet. This is easier to do if the beds
are on their sides.
|
| After the 2 halves are
attached to each other you can straighten out the bed base and lay it
flat on the floor. You are now ready to connect the individual spring
link sections together. |
|
| Spring-Link sections
Take a look at the spring section and you
will see all the spring-links that connect the two sides together to
give one complete surface for the mattress. Lift the head spring
away from the bed frame to give slack to the links. Connect the spring
links together with the links provided:
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|
| Head Section Pull Tube If the bed is new, you
will find the Pull-Tube connected to the side frame for shipping
purposes. To disconnect the head pull tube assembly from the side
frame of the foot spring remove the hitch pin, grommet/washer from the
clevis pin. Extend the inner pull tube shaft manually until the
spring button "clicks" into the adjustment hole of the outer pull tube.
Connect the pull tube end assembly to the lift arm of the head spring
as follows:
- Insert the clevis pin into the lift arm slot
- Replace the grommet/washer
- Secure with hitch pin
- see below for details
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|
| Head and Footboards
Install the head/footboard caster wheels
before attaching the spring base to the head/footboards. If you
have 2 locking casters and 2 without locks, install the locking casters
diagonally opposite from one another. The head and footboard
pieces may be referred to as universal bed ends and depending on the
brand and model of your hospital bed, the headboard may be the same as
the footboard, but not always.
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|
| Assembling Bed ends
Head and Foot Boards have a (receiver) gear that bed-ends attach to.
- Stand one bed end
as close to the head spring section as possible.
-
Grasp the head spring section, by the
side, and raise it until the rivets on the corner plates of the
spring section are high enough to place into the corner locks on the
bed end.
-
Tilt the bed end toward the head
spring section and place the rivets into the corner locks.
-
Return the universal bed end to its
full upright position. The head spring rivets will lock into place
- Repeat the same procedure for other bed end.
Notice at the foot-end
of the bed, the footboard has a place in the center where the drive
motor engages directly into the footboard. This must be completed
so that the drive rod coming from the motor matches up with the
footboard. You will also notice that this drive rod is spring-loaded so
it can be compressed and released into the footboard. |
|
| Drive Shaft
This drive-shaft is what raises/lowers the
entire bed. At the headboard there is a "T" device where the rod
connects. at the foot-end, the rod attaches directly to the "T"
shaft coming out of the motor. This drive-rod is spring loaded
and must be slightly compressed and released to secure to the end "T"
points. So the drive rod runs from the headboard directly to the
drive motor.
- Remove and discard the plastic caps from each end
of the drive shaft
- Press spring button on the inner shaft and insert
the inner shaft into the outer shaft
- Engage the spring button into the proper
positioning hole
- Attach the inner shaft to the bottom gear box
output shaft on the head end of the bed
-
Push in on the spring loaded end of
the drive shaft and attach to the foot end of the bed
-
Ensure the Hi/Lo motor output shaft
spring‐loaded coupler is properly aligned with the foot end gear box
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Motor Setup
Some of the newer-design hospital beds use a snap-in motor design. If your bed uses the snap-in design, align the motor with the cams on the bed frame. Consult bed's user manual for recommended placement. The motor is marked with HEAD and FOOT at the snaps. Lay the bed frame over on one side to install the motor. The image below satisfies most of the snap-in style beds:
|
 Testing
Plug-in the bed and try each individual control button on the hand
pendant. If one of the functions is not working properly,
troubleshooting is straightforward. The foot-end raise/lower
function is usually the least troublesome since it is already
pre-assembled. The head-end raise/lower function will perform
properly if the "pull-tube" (above) is connected properly. The
bed hi/low function is usually where self-installers have a problem
since the drive shaft/rod must connect properly into the footboard.
If the Bed won't raise/lower correctly, check the drive rod connections
and make sure the "T" shafts are locked into the rod and not just
free-spinning. If the head end of the bed is raising/lowering, but the
foot end is not, you will need to inspect the connection between the
drive motor rod and the footboard of the bed. |
