Mary poppins uncollapsing table ideas?

[ahcrapnotagain]

So were putting on Mary poppins at our local theater but I'm at a loss when it comes to making the table collapse and uncollapse.
As it's a small production pneumatics isn't really an option, originally I thought that some sort of counter weight system might work but I'm kind of at a loss on how I might make that work.
Any ideas would be much appreciated.

 

[kicknargel]

Search "Mary Poppins" in the search box upper right. There are a few threads.

 

[ahcrapnotagain]

Search "Mary Poppins" in the search box upper right. There are a few threads.

Ya I already took a look at them. I think I'm just going to spend the extra money and use pneumatics, I should be able to get a reliable system working for under $80.

 

[Inspiring Techie]

How much would pneumatics cost in a scenario like this?

 

[ruinexplorer]

I would probably make the table like a push puppet, the toys that have hidden strings in the bodies that are under tension, but when you push the button on the bottom, it releases tension and allows it to collapse. When tension is returned, they come back upright.

 

[Parker Battle]

I recently worked on a Mary Poppins show and we just had a 4x8 platform (or bigger if you want) with a wall behind and had a bunch of 2x4's that acted as levers for the table. The table legs was on a PVC pipe with a break in the middle of the table. So the operators were behind the wall raising and lowering the table by moving the 2x4 which was connected directly to the PVC pipe and made it go up and down pretty nicely. For all of the plates falling and what not they used a bunch of fishing line and tubing to pull it up and such. Didn't actually build it just saw it but let me know if you have any questions as id be happy to help as much as I can if you haven't already put on the production.