Fold Down Tables

After a few bike maintenance sessions while traveling, we decided it would be nice to have a small work surface in the garage area for tools and parts, instead of relying on the unlikely perk of finding a picnic table in the wilderness on which to put things. Like all other things in the van, it also needed to be simple to use, or we would never use it.

We researched how other folks were installing flip-down tables and looked at a variety of different products out there, but they all seemed a little cumbersome to use and the latch mechanisms we found wouldn’t allow the table to sit exactly flush with our door, which was a requirement for us because of how our bikes fit in the garage. Instead, we came up with the idea of using magnets and door hinges to hold everything in place.

With a gentle tug, the table surface flips down from the vertical door, and a leg pulls out sideways and supports the table from underneath. Mike made little standoffs to mount the hinges flush with the table and leg so that everything would work smoothly. To put it all away, simply push the table and leg back toward the door, and they snap into place!

A magnet on the rear door mates up to a steel cup on the table to hold the table against the door during travel.

Likewise, a magnet on top of the support leg mates up to a steel cup on the underside of the table to hold the support leg in place while the table is in use.

Table deployed!

Lessons Learned: We initially sized the magnets for the table to be relatively easy to pull, and totally forgot to consider the forces experienced when closing the rear doors. After we had installed everything and tested it out to our satisfaction, the first time we shut the rear door we heard a loud BANG as the table fell right onto our bikes! We had to uninstall everything again and ream out larger holes for a larger set of magnets that could actually withstand the force of the door closing... Now that we have increased the strength of the magnets, the tables work great!