Pallet Coffee Table With Lifting Top and Landing Gear

A coffee table made from upcycled pallet wood and bed slats. The table top lifts to be used as a work surface when seated and also reveals a storage compartment beneath. A pedal-controlled retractable castor wheel system allows the table to be moved smoothly and easily, yet remain stable when in use.[Please note I had no intention of creating an Instructable when beginning this project, so I apologise if some stages are a little thin on the photograph side of things - I'll do my utmost to fill in the blanks using notes in the photos I do have.]Our original coffee table was anIKEA Lackwhich was, appropriately, lacking in various areas: The dimensions were not ideal for the size and shape of our living room - it was slightly too long (900mm), slightly too narrow (550mm) and slightly too tall (500mm). So came the decision to build my own.While we have a nice desk (converted base from an old sewing machine, if you're interested,) it does involve some minor gymnastics to reach it behind the sofa which is far from ideal. I wanted to create something that had a sturdy surface just over knee height for writing/typing, etc, which could be used instead of the desk for brief periods.The other major consideration is that I have an ~18-month-old son running around the place. Whatever I ended up with needed to be safe for him and easy for us to move around - for all its faults, the old coffee table was good at blocking off areas of the living room.Perusing Instructables during my lunch hour, I found userlofgren's wonderfulCoffee table upgrade!which, in terms of functionality, was exactly what I wanted to achieve. As I very much liked the various and clever pallet projects found on Instructables and (having never made furniture before) knowing the process would involve trial and error, re/upcycling cheap and imperfect pallet wood seemed the obvious route.Tools, parts and materials used:• Three or four clean pallets• A stack of not-too-worn bed slats• Scrap/spare wood• Drill, various bits including hole saw• Jigsaw, originally with a crappy flexing blade, later with a stiff neat-cut blade• Power sander, with coarse and not-so-coarse paper• Various spanners, screwdrivers, chisels, mole grip, piers, pincers, crowbar• Rasp• Set square• Steel ruler• Measuring tape• An assortment of screws I have•Gorilla wood glue(I can't recommend this stuff enough)• Clamps. I had only four, but the more you have the merrier you will be• Wood stain, lint-free cloth• 10mm dowel• Screws, various• M8 x 100mm bolts• Regular, ny-lock nuts and T-nut• Washers, various• x450mm rubber castor wheels, no brakes• x2 80nmgas struts/stays• x5 Screw-in eyelets.• x4 M8 adjustable feet• Cork pads to attach to feet•Springs, various