Originally Posted by
Quincunx
A question I should have asked long ago.
What is the way to keep the support arm for the fold-out cabinet top from popping out?
This is one of the plainest cabinets. The bent headed bolt someone screwed into the side of the cabinet was a good idea. Twist it a little to free the support arm, fold up the arm and twist the bolt head back, the arm pops out again but it is held by the bolt. But maybe one time out of ten I put the arm back and it stays in place on its own. What did I do to make it stay in place? Was it friction, or luck, or did I pull the spring and latch it somehow?
I got lucky and the arm stayed caught long enough for me to look underneath and watch it. There is a small bump on the underside of the hardware which connects the arm to the table. When I am lucky the spring is tight enough that it rides up high very close to the underside of the cabinet's top. Then it is caught and held by the bump by friction. But how to move the arm so that the spring will catch the bump, I have no idea.