My son likes to sleep with his water bottle next to his bed, and to facilitate this, he set up a wooden step-stool to use as a table. It did the job, but I saw an excuse to make something more interesting. I had a pair of aluminum office-chair arms that were just the right size for a side table. I built a steel support structure into them, mounted that into a Jeep piston head, set the piston head into a automotive pulley, attached that to a monster carriage bolt/nut, welded that into a harmonic balancer from a 7.3l Power Stroke, and welded THAT to a ring gear from an old Jeep differential. Added in a dozen brass bolts for shine and some fitted aluminum perforated sheet for texture, then turned my attention to the top. I used my router to cut out and flatten some spalted Elm so it fit into the chair arm opening, then sealed it with shellac, and secured it to the support structure that holds up the frame. I really wanted the wood to be as protected as possible, so to prevent cup rings and scratches from toy cars, I cut out a matching shape from a piece of ⅛” thick glass plate. This is affixed to the chair arm with black RTV gasket maker so the glass: won’t move, is cushioned (somewhat) from impacts, and completely seals the top of the wood from liquids/crayons/markers/clandestine chocolate/crashing lego vehicles/etc. I may also have made a matching side table whose base was a Power Stroke camshaft/timing gear with a rotating steel-bar armature… I may have made it specifically for a friend to put in his shop, and I may have watched him drive away with it after without taking any pictures of it. Maybe. In any event, this one absolutely made it into my sons room and is doing a superb job being a table. Mission accomplished.

Approximate Dimensions:
17″ Wide, 13″ Tall, 11″ Deep