My roaster friends at sightglass wanted some barista tables that could raise or lower all the espresso gear 10" to accommodate different height baristas. I suggested some hydraulic lifting tables used in industry, but they wanted something a bit more tailored, a bit more in-tune with the rest of the aesthetic that they had been cultivating at the shop.

The tables are made with an overlapping open mortise and tenon joint that really added a nice dimension to the otherwise pretty hard edges.  The material is 0.25” plate steel and in some places its doubled thick.

The motion mechanism is designed using bevel gears, chains and sprockets to turn four acme rods which force the table surface up, or let it relax down based on a modified crank from a Bridgeport milling machine.

The chains are beefy and the power-train is routed back to the rear of the table with help of a few chain idlers. This step was necessary in order to make room for the slide in /slide out custom knock-boxes.

The top of the table rises up and down on an angle iron sub-frame that bolts to the floor and limits any lateral motion.

The knock boxes are waterjet cut sidepanels, skinned in sheetmetal for weight savings. With a big beefy 1” solid bar for easy knocking of the coffee portafilters. They’re sized to hold 300 or so spent coffee pucks. And it’s built to last a lifetime.

The tables got a nice gun-blue patina and the sightglass logo cut in the front skirts.

All in all it was a lot more work than I had expected it to be but In the end I was very proud of the results, and it’s nice to have the work go to sightglass where not only are they appreciated, they’re in a beautiful setting.