How to Make a Table With a Piano Hinge

A fold-up table is convenient for throwing parties or hosting dinners for families when you need an extra table and a small poker table will not do. Creating your own fold-up table gives you the freedom to make the table the size you need it to be. The stability and strength of a piano hinge will guarantee the table will hold all that is needed.

Two 2-by-3-foot MDF (medium-density fibreboard) boards, 3/4-inch thick
36-inch piano hinge
Cordless drill
1/2-inch wood screws
Four 1-by-1-inch table legs
Two 20-inch long 1-by-1-inch boards
1 1/2-inch wood screws
Four tee hinges
Pine trim
Trim nails
Hammer

Instructions

- 1
  Lay two 2-by-3-foot MDF boards, 3/4-inch thick, next to each other on the floor face down. Set the boards touching at 2-foot long edges.
- 2
  Set a 36-inch long piano hinge on the seam made where the two MDF boards touch. Center the hinge along the seam.
- 3
  Screw the piano hinge to the boards with a cordless drill and 1/2-inch wood screws. Drill one screw in the middle hole on each side and one screw on each end to keep the hinge in place during attachment.
- 4
  Attach, with 1/2-inch wood screws, a tee hinge to one side of the top of a table leg where the long end of the hinge is on the leg. Attach three more tee hinges to three more table legs in the same manner.
- 5
  Attach two sets of two table legs together using a 20-inch long, 1-by-1-inch support board six inches from the hinges. Place the legs so the tee hinges are on facing the same direction. Drill two 1 1/2-inch wood screw into the support boards through the legs.
- 6
  Place the legs in the corners of the table leaving a 1-inch space between the edges of the table and the legs. The tee hinges must face the interior of the table along the 3-foot long edge to fold down properly.
- 7
  Attach the tee hinges to the MDF boards with 1/2-inch wood screws using a cordless drill.
- 8
  Open the legs and stand the table up.
- 9
  Secure pine trim to the edges of the MDF boards with trim nails using a hammer.

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