A Drafting Table Made From an IKEA Coffee Table

No laser cutter? No CNC machine? No 3-D printer? Fear not comrades, this is an instructable for the everyman.

This instructable is meant more to inspire than to copy, as I believe most instructables tend to do that anyway, not to mention the fact that is seems unlikely that you would build this table to these specs.

That being said, I'm a college student and I recently needed a better work surface, and fast. I had weather beaten scrap wood and an IKEA coffee table top I found in my garage.

Here's how it goes.

Step 1: Lubricate

A handful of these'll do.

Step 2: Pool Your Resources and Scheme

Now that the anxiety is gone we can concentrate. Now, what do we need, and what's on hand?

I used this IKEA/ Rubbermaid getup for about 6 months, not bad but definitely not preferable. Let's see what happens when we check our inventory.

Measure everything and break it down mentally and through notes; there won't be much wiggle room.
I think we can pull it off.

Step 3: Getting Started: the Base

Begin with the base. It needs to be able to clear my office chair's armrests, about 31." The mechanism needs to clear 31," as you'll see shortly. Interestingly enough the base is almost a cube at around 32 x 31 1/2 x 31 (abouts). The table top is around 34 x 42.

Oh, and when working with wood like this Pre-drill everything. I pre-drill everything anyway. Also, you'll notice I'm not using wood glue, as I want to have the option to break it down readily.