Hello All, I'm stuck on conceptualizing what kind of hinge I need for my project. I've attached an amateurish diagram that I hope explains it best. Essentially I want to fold and unfold the surfaces of a table leg so that it can act as a stable leg as well as open so the outer surfaces become a flat 'canvas' if you will. The hinges need to be hidden on the back and inside of the leg, whether inset into the wood or attached to its back. Whether a small enough hinge is manufactured will be a secondary issue to understanding the engineering and mechanics of the appropriate hinge for such a need. Thanks in advance for anyone's insights! theArtist
How about fixing or sinking a canvas strap into the legs, when all 4 pieces are assembled, hidden hinge and little space taken.
Have you thought about using a plastic compliant hinge embedded in the wood? (kind of like what you would see on a flip-top cap) It would be cheap and you could paint it blend in. If you made them the full length of the wood pieces, they would be quite strong. Otherwise you could try a concealed cabinet hinge, but they are much bulkier.
Hinge design I have quite a background in designing hinges and have to add that you have one fundamental problem. In order for the legs to "unfold" without gaps between them, the centre of the hinge pins needs to be aligned along the outside edges and will be therefore visible. Obviously, this comment applies to the option of a recessed "piano hinge" type of arrangement. That probably leaves some kind of compound hinge as used on kitchen cabinets etc and those are generally large....I can see a couple of ways to give the motion of open / close you are looking for but I don't think they will give you a stable leg as they involve linkages concealed within the leg inner space that will probably not be very rigid.
If your concept will allow the use of plastics, the shape could be moulded in one piece with the hinge action created by the flexing of the plastic section as in e.g. one-piece tool boxes with integral hinge.
