Expert: Jamie Yocono - 11/28/2006

Question
I am trying to find a hindge that can move upward from let say a 18" coffee table top- raise up so it can be a 30" study homework table. It then can go back down and look like a regular coffee - foot table? When it raises it comes toward you maybe in a upward 45 degree

Answer
Hey Mike,

The mechanism you described is called a Pop Up Table Mechanism, and Rockler hardware sells one for about $135.... ouch! Cut and paste this into your browser and you'll see the exact part:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=2318&SearchHandle=DADBDBDHDADADDDGDJDEDA...

(I have no idea why it's such a long link, but at least it works.)

The only thing that this doesn't do is raise up at a 45 degree angle. At least I don't think it does, but you could find out for sure by calling them.

Two things- if it doesn't raise up at an angle, there isn't much room to slide a chair up and do your homework or eat, or whatever you want to do with a 30" height. So if you are designing and building this table, you might get around that by having a big overhanging top.

Second- I didn't look this item up in my main hardware supplier's catalog, but I suspect that part probably wholesales for about $80 or so. If you have a friend who owns a cabinet shop, maybe they could order it for you and you could save a little cash. I certainly do that for my good customers, marking it up minimally for my time.

OK, good luck, I hope this helps. Please feel free to write back if you have any further questions after reading this. And if this answer was helpful... please take a minute and rate my service. Thanks!

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com