How to open a lifetime folding table

In the months since we’ve started this blog, I've received several questions regarding Lifetime's fold-in-half tables... interestingly enough, most people ask the basic question: How do you to unfold them? Esther from Niceville, FL wrote in yesterday:

"I just bought your 5 ft fold-in-half table. It’s great, but I do not know how to open it up and there wasn't any directions. Sorry, I am 69 years old and not mechanically minded and am afraid that I might do something to mess it up..."

How do you unfold it?? The first few times I’ve seen this question, I admit, I thought it wouldn’t be all that hard. But then I walked down to our showroom and tried to open a new table myself... it took a little more elbow grease thought! I looked into why this is, and it turns out our engineers developed these tables to stay safely closed when you carry, transport, or store them, which is actually a really good thing. This means they are snugly shut the first few times you pull them out to use them, and opening them may require a strong tug.

Esther asked that we send some simple directions so, based on my experience, here they are!

Unfolding a Lifetime fold-in-half table
1- Place your hands inside the groove (on the side opposite of the table's hinges).
2- Pull the two sides apart. Though this can require a little strength the first few times, it will get easier the more you use your table.
3- Once you unfold it, lay it on its side and lock it in place with the red switch on the table's underside (if your table is an older model, lock it in place using the gray sliding bar).
4- From there, you can stand the table on its legs.
5- If it’s an adjustable-height table, you can place your foot on the cross bar while it's in the standing position, to easily raise and lower the table's height one side at a time.

The good news is, if you've gotten your table this year you'll enjoy an improved opening mechanism. In early 2008 our engineers realized that the clip holding the table shut was doing its job a little TOO well, so they took the opportunity to make some improvements. Tables made in 2008 and after have been developed to open easier, still close tight, and have that easy red tab to lock them in place when they’re set up. Hope this helps you, and you know more about our convenient and unique fold-in –half tables.