Folding Lid Stays

Folding lid stays are an excellent choice for both chest lid and desk flap support. Correctly installed the folding stay intrudes very little into the box or desk. The chance of interference with shelves or cubby-holes is much less than with a simple sliding stay. Folding stays are designed to open slightly more than 180°. This attribute prevents them closing again until partially released at the joint by pulling or pushing. This locking action is useful but could be considered a liability. I would not recommend these stays for use around small children. The potential for accidental release and pinched fingers is slight but it does exist. We have friction stays that are better suited to use under these circumstances.

The drawings below show typical installations on a chest and a falling front desk. In either application the smaller stays need to be installed so the joint folds away from the hinges (forward folding), the larger stays can often be fitted to fold either way but space limits will often require their joint to fold towards the hinges. The location points we have provided will work for both orientations. These are workable locations but not the only possibilities. In the case of the chest installation these dimensions will provide slightly more than a 90° opening of the lid and for the falling front desk flap a horizontal opening.

We have illustrated two types of vertical fall front desk applications, the measurement are the same in both cases. The first is typical if the hinged writing surface is attached to fixed cabinetry, the second is useful if the writing surface is a drawer front when closed. We have ignored the 3" stays as being undersized for this job.

If used to support the writing surface of a slant front desk you will be limited to desks with a 60° or steeper angle. Less than 60° and the desk mounting point will need to be so far back that the extended stay will not then be long enough to allow horizontal opening. Only the 8" stays are suitable for this application. As most traditional slant front desks have a slope of greater angle we suggest either the traditional pull out supports or sliding stays.

Chest or box

Item # A & B C
202FS1 8" 9 1/2" backward folding 1 1/4"
202FS4 6" 7 1/2" backward folding 1 1/4"
202FS2 5" 6 1/2" backward folding 1 1/4"
202FS5 4" 5 1/2" forward folding 1 1/4"
202FS3 3" 3 1/2" forward folding 1 1/4"

Vertical Fall Front Desk

Or

Item # A & B C
202FS1 8" 10 5/16" 1 3/4"
202FS4 6" 7 1/2" 1 3/4"
202FS2 5" 6 3/16" 1 3/4"
202FS5 4" N/A N/A

Sloping Fall Front Desk (max angle 60%)

Item # A B C
202FS1 8" 7 1/4" 8 3/4" 5 3/16"
202FS4 6" N/A N/A N/A
202FS2 5" N/A N/A N/A
202FS5 4" N/A N/A N/A
202FS3 3" N/A N/A N/A