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I'm building a train set play chest for the boys. The twins are almost 5, I found my old Lionel train 027 guage but my daughter wants the set to be able to fold up out of the way. I'm making a "Murphy table" in a 12" deep wall box, 86"long by 45" tall. The lid, 1/2" Baltic Ply, will fold down 90 degrees to form the train table with track attached and screwed in place.
I want some type of "soft opening" bracket to keep the lid from dropping on the kids. Rockler and others have toy chest hinges, and I see pistons on Amazon. But all seem designed to support and assist to prevent closing. Since the door will be dropping down I needed "tension while opening"?
Any ideas???
So far it has been a fun project. I'm lousy at drawing plans, so each step has been designed while sleeping, then applied the following morning, mostly by trial and not too many errors. When closed the bottom of the lid will be painted with white-board paint, so the showing surface will be a play area. Since the kids are still very young, the area between the tracks will have Lego-sheeting so they can create things for the train village.
Will send pictures when done.
Gary Kalyn

Use a counter balance that is heavy enough to hold the lid in any position. You can hide the weights behind the frame. If you use enough weight where the weight of the lid and counter balance is equal nothign can ever fall. You might want to make a stop so you can open the lid and then unhook the counter balance to get them out of the way.

Or you can hook one in the center leaving both sides open. If you hook on to one side the thing may rack

This sounds strange, but ...

A few years ago, I bought a toilet seat at HD with a soft-close feature, mostly to avoid that unnerving crash when my young kids dropped it, but also because I found it amusing. The hinges have some sort of built-in damping (in the close-direction only), and you can't make that thing slam even if you try. It takes several seconds for the seat & lid to drift down into the closed position.

The seat wasn't particularly expensive. It's several years old now, and has held up well. Perhaps you adapt the hinges from one.

BuckeyeDennis wrote:This sounds strange, but ...

A few years ago, I bought a toilet seat at HD with a soft-close feature, mostly to avoid that unnerving crash when my young kids dropped it, but also because I found it amusing. The hinges have some sort of built-in damping (in the close-direction only), and you can't make that thing slam even if you try. It takes several seconds for the seat & lid to drift down into the closed position.

The seat wasn't particularly expensive. It's several years old now, and has held up well. Perhaps you adapt the hinges from one.

You must have a very large toilet seat for that to work for the train table!:D

Yea, and you'd hope the kids don't get the wrong idea!

JPG40504 wrote:You must have a very large toilet seat for that to work for the train table!:D

I didn't say how MANY hinges might be required!

Would like to help, but just can't picture the setup!

I do not understand the white board play surface when 'up'.

The train track will be attached to the mattress side of the Murphy Bed type table. When the unit is in the closed position, as when a Murphy Bed is up against the wall, the facing surface will be painted with a coating that is advertized to create a White Board surface. Listed at Lowes and on Amazon...hope it works.
I sort of like the counter balance idea...I'll have to make some measurements and see if there is enough room to allow for weight.
Also the mention of the toilet hinge creates a good visual as I ask a few on-line sources for pistons for ideas.