Heavy Duty Bedsheet Hooks

I have tried a lot of solutions to keep my fitted sheets from popping off of my bed. I guess I toss around a lot at night, because they just do not want to stay on. Getting an adjustable bed seemed to make the problem even worse. I find that small clips just come off, and the elastic bands some sheets come with either slip off the bed, or simply rip off of the sheets after a few months.

I find the experience of getting into bed for the night and having one of the corners of my sheets suddenly pop off to be uniquely frustrating. So I designed these: the big guns.

These are screw clamps with high clamping force, with hooks on the other side which hook onto your bed frame. Are these good for your sheets? Probably not. But these are the solution for people who would rather rip their sheets in half than have to wake up even one more time at 3AM to fix their bed.

Disclaimer: These might damage your sheets. I haven't had any problems with wear, but the whole idea here is to screw clamps onto your sheets to keep them in place. If you have $600 sheets and this idea makes you cringe, that's understandable.

Bed requirements

First off, you need to have a bed frame with a space to hook under. Check the image to see what I mean.

These clamps have 11 cm of distance from the clamp to the tip of the hook, and 14 cm of distance between the clamp and the tip of the hook. That's about the range of distance you have to work with. So check your bed first and measure from the base of your mattress to under your bed frame. If it's a little less than 11 cm or more than 14 cm, I would print one hook first and see what you think. If it's much more or less, this design might not work. The STEP file is included if you want to try lengthening or shortening it.

Printing

The 3mf file includes a set of four clamps. You can probably get away with three. 0.2 mm layers will work fine. For a 0.4 mm nozzle, I recommend printing with at least four walls, as they need to be strong – particularly the bolt and the slider. The 3mf has the parts in the recommended print orientation, arranged such that they can print on a single 256x256 build plate.

Assembly

See that rectangle with a bite out of it? That's the “slider”. Put that little guy into the “body” (the main hook thing). The diagonal part should go on the top, toward the gap in the hook, just like the retaining wall on the hook.

Next, snap the “cap” onto the hook, which will trap the slider.

Now screw the bolt into place until it gets to the point where it moves freely. You may need to work the bolt a little to clear out the threads in the hook, but after a few times, the bolt should turn smoothly.

Attaching the clamp

I recommend attaching two hooks at the head of your bed, near the corners, and two hooks on the sides of the bed, about halfway to the foot.

It's easiest to attach the hooks to the sheet, and then hook it onto your bed frame, rather than the other way around.

1. Make sure the bolt is in the “loose” configuration. It should easily wiggle back and forth. If it's not, you probably need to unscrew it a bit.
2. Slide the elastic of the fitted sheet into the gap in the hook. If you have a mattress cover, include the elastic for that too. If there's anything worse than the corner of your sheets popping off, it's the corner of your mattress cover popping up under your sheets.
3. Pull the sheet tight, so that it isn't bunched up. If it's bunched up, the clamping won't be as effective.
4. Push on the bolt and turn until it begins to tighten. Continue tightening until it clicks three or four times. You should feel significant resistance when you've got it tight enough.
5. Hook the hook under your bed frame

It's OK if there isn't a ton of tension on the hooks, so long as they do actually hook onto the frame. It's ok if they're a bit loose. It's probably not great if they're very tight though. It's going to depend on your bed.

Detaching the clamp

Unscrew the bolt until its loose and set the hook aside. You don't need to fully remove the bolt; it's designed to be retained by the clamp.