Coffee table w/ lift top for laptop work

[Vicspa]

Here's one from Brookstone.

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[Jean-Franco]

I drew for a friend a coffee table with a similar system but all made with wood.
Just for ideas.

[mrossk]

FYI, Rockler sells this hardware...

[Gene Davis]

What is interesting me as regards hardware, is the price of the complete RTA unit I was seeing today at the Farm & Fleet store, an item made by Sauder, is selling for something like $100. All the Souder stuff is discounted this week.

I cannot find the hardware anywhere online for a price close to this.

So, buy the kit (yes it is a kit with the hardware unmounted) and throw away all but the metal. Then make a nice one.

OTOH, the wooden one might be best. One could prototype it for little material expense, fine tune things, and then do the real thing.

FWIW, I have attached a pic of the hardware that comes with the RTA Souder table. Pretty beefy stuff, with a nice spreader strap running side to side to minimize wobble.

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[Gene Davis]

And it's only 99 bucks, which is a great price for the hardware PLUS a CNC-cut prototype that can be used for the hole-drill template.

[Dave R]

Cool idea. Are you going to buy the kit?

[Dave R]

How about something like this? Move the drawer over a bit, center it or leave it out.

[solo]

Just saw this in my FaceBook feed.

[mrossk]

$40.00 at Woodworkers Supply! : http://woodworker.com/coffee-table-top-lift-mechanism-lr-mssu-164-228.asp

or what looks to be a nicer unit at Lee Valley for $190 : http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=40573&cat=3,43586,43594&ap=1

[Box]

I woke up with an addition to your table in my mind. Make the top from two pieces, put a couple of locking posts in the bottom layer and a track in the top layer and you can spin and slide the top to form a gaming table or whatever. Much more versatile, but you'd probably need to have some good weight in the base to counterbalance it at full extension.

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[watkins]

The mechanism seems to be quite inexpensive

(www.dhgate.com)

Regards,
Bob