Best hinge for a DIY murphy desk?

[nightyard]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to build a murphy desk for my wife's home office and I'm stumped as to what hinge would be most suitable for the job.

I've come across a murphy desk (pre built) that uses a hinge so strong that the desk doesn't need any supporting struts. I would love to be able to build something as clean as this, but I'm unsure what hinges the desk uses. The manufacturer has a video showing someone doing a backflip off of it!

any ideas or recommendations?

https://pithandstem.com/product/droptop-duo/

 

[Iestynd]

I'm no engineer but the hinge in this build doesn't need to be that strong.. well kind of.

The load on the front of the desk will push UPWARDS on the bottom of the carcass screwed to the wall. So good wall fixings are a must. Given we can't see the hinge rebate into the desk, and the desk leaf overhangs the frame, i can only assume its underneath that carcass. So any downward load on the desk would also be pulling the screws on the face frame of that wall unit downwards (sheer force??) so again a good solid purchase on there would be needed.

I'd be tempted to use a decent piano hinge at first...

Either way good luck and I hope other people respond.

 

[dzj]

No ideas, sorry.
I'd love to see their "purpose built extremely strong hinges, supporting up to 50kg", though.
I'd particularly like to see how they fare after 12 months of everyday use.

 

[Dee J]

120mm cabinet depth with a 750 deep desk flap would be a no go for me if that was made of timber or manufactured panels. The weakest points would be fixing pull-out from the drop leaf and splitting the bottom rail of the cabinet. Steel maybe, but timber no. That sort of deign might work for a short flap (300mm). Add in some sort of flap stay hardware or chains and there'd be no problems (provided your wall fixings are strong enough).

 

[rafezetter]

I personally wouldn't use a normal style hinge as the screw threads would be taking most of the load and thus relying on how much bite they have but there is another simple solution - use a pin hinge. On the part of the desk that goes under the carcass you put two verticals either side drill a hole right through and slot in a reasonable diameter hardwood dowel or even a metal bar; add a bit extra thickness to the carcass where the holes are and make sure the verticals are well secured using angled glued dowels as well as glue and maybe a couple of screws.

pretty bombproof - assuming you use decent plywood or proper wood for the deskpart - mdf and chipboard would not be a good idea, MDF sags under it's own weight and chipboard can break just about anywhere as there no real strength to it.

There's one thing you'll have to do if you use this method, but I'll let you figure that out for yourself - no fun in telling you everything

 

[RJW]

Did you find a good solution for these hinges? I am pondering the very same thing, and currently going to just use a few butt hinges and reinforce the screw fixings...unless someone can suggest otherwise!

 

[Jarno]

Maybe strap hinges, and add a bend on each leaf. And then screw the case side to the inside of the carcass. On the work surface side create a slot and poke the other leaf through that, screw it from the outside in. This way you eliminate the pull out force on the screws. If bothered by the visible hardware, you could add a "false shelf" to mask the hinge end inside the case, and a false front on the outside of the work surface to hide that end of the hinge.
Wouldn't stand on it though, it is still a lot of twisting force on the underside of the case, and unreinforced plywood is only so strong. Totally adequate worksurface for a laptop though, add a sideflap to put the laptop on so you can use two monitors and a proper keyboard (the laptop screen and a second screen).

 

[Sachakins]

655mm deep for the desk leaf is extremely generous, I'd have thought 400mm would be ample.
Side stays or chain would take weight off the hinge, so a normal piano hinge with stays would suffice.

 

[XTiffy]

I agree that 400mm depth for a desktop is ample. One solution would be to use " wooden swing-out brackets", look up Pembroke table constuction.

 

[andrew_2]

Just saying... My desk is 750 deep and I have a 27 inch monitor on it, which is a very nice size, but a strain on the eyes if I get too close to it, so I tend to sit back. The sketch shows 2 x 24 inch screens, which I presume are monitors, so 400 would be fairly close up and personal.