[Ridin]

My dad and I spent a couple of hours yesterday building a fold down table for the rear door of my jimny.
I bought everything from bunnings. I used a 600x200mm melamine shelf which required no cutting, Some black plastic (marine type) hinges, carpeted the bottom and some velcro to hold it in the up position. Was about $40 all up.
We pulled the door trim off and used 3mm thick aluminium scraps as a backing to screw the hinges into. Unfortunately I didn't get any progress pictures, But i am very happy with how it has turned out.

[striker99]

Looks good! I like how simple the design sounds

[zukenutter]

Really tidy looking, good job

[Ridin]

Thanks guys. Trying to make it look neat and tidy was part part of the plan. Its seems quite sturdy aswell. Being melamine, I don't think I'll be able to prepare any hot food or drink on it, but it should come in handy when I need to put the bacon and eggs somewhere while I dig a couple of beers out of the bottom of the fridge.

[jake84]

nice work
hows them Velcro tabs going ?

[Ridin]

Those small Velcro dots did seem ok, but I've since swapped them for a 100mm long strip on each side. There isn't a lot of force on the velcro when it's up anyway. As long as the adhesive stays stuck to the plastic and the melamine it'll be fine.

[zukenutter]

I used Velcro originally but got sick of it coming unstuck

[jake84]

i used a child proof door restraint its great
it always holds my door up perfectly
bunnings i love you lol

[zukenutter]

I ended up with this fix

[jake84]

i borrowed that idea and altered it a little

[Ridin]

zukenutter, I picked up one of those elastic straps when I was at bunnings, then remembered I had Velcro laying around so I changed my mind. I'll see how it holds up in the future. Your table looks abouy the same size as mine, do you use it to cook or do anything hot?

[zukenutter]

Yeah I have a butane stove that I have cooked there with. Heat hasn't been an issue so far but bacon spatter is, Mmmm bacon!!

[jake84]

I cook on mine and have a gas cooker as well no issues


Work to live, don't live to work.

[Ridin]

Im worried about the plastic trim melting. Jake, I see that yours has timber sheet behind it too which would protect the plastic from melting. I might find something to protect mine too before I try using a cooker on it.

[striker99]

When I do cooking with a gas stove I always use a aluminium shield around it...keeps the heat in and makes water boil much faster. If you're worried about plastic melting this would probably help, helps reduce food splatter too

[jake84]

Ridin wrote:

Im worried about the plastic trim melting. Jake, I see that yours has timber sheet behind it too which would protect the plastic from melting. I might find something to protect mine too before I try using a cooker on it.

i built min out of marine ply its great for stuff like that
not hard to clean at all
i ran into that issue to after doing some resurch i found that this would be the best road to go down on
i've fixed the 180 pound wire line to the chassis of the door also reinforced it to
you might have seen that the table is tilts alittle thats so when i park i dont have to worry about the car tilting (works great )
nothing falls

to be on the safe side if your going to cook on it make up a splash back to be safe others only use them for drinks and other stuff so thats may bey why they dont have a back on them but to be safe id put a splash back