Lift top coffee table

Materials: 2 Lack coffee table

Description: From 2 Lack coffee tables (401.042.94 or 000.950.36 or 101.042.95), one piece of chipboard and 2 gas cylinders for office chairs (non-IKEA). My total cost – 50€.

First, I drilled 2 holes in one of the table tops to fit the gas cylinders. I added a piece of chipboard with smaller holes to enforce the bottom of this table top. I added the second table top plus the table shelf to the gas cylinders mechanism (be aware that mechanism is angled, so you need to correct that angle).

The Lack table legs are hollow, but have a chipboard reinforcement around 20cm from the lower end, I used this reinforcement to create a smaller leg. I used the rest of two of the legs to reinforce also the chipboard from the back of the table.

Since the table was black, I kept in place the black sleeves from the gas springs; but those have a small clip in the head, that can be removed, and the gas spring can be inserted in a Lack table leg, for another table color. This can simplify the table production, since it will not require the perfect circular holes in the bottom table top.

The result:
GOOD:
1. A coffee table useable as a small dining table. You can see the height is not very variable, it increases from 52 cm lowered to 62 cm raised. This is enough to turn it from a coffee table to a decent dining table.
2. Elegant and decent in sizes (all available lift tables were bigger). The main reason that I built this was the table top size. I could get from Kika a very good lift table for around 200€, while the same table in Nekerman’s catalog was 750€, but the table top was too big, so I decided to do it myself.

BAD:
1. The gas springs are very hard, so I need 2 persons to lower it. I was unable to locate softer ones. Any suggestion will be appreciated here.

~ Constantin Jemna, Bucharest, Romania