A rolling TV lift cabinet

Game night needs a big screen. The rest of the week it doesn’t, and a black rectangle in the middle of the room is hard to ignore. This build is a cabinet on casters with a motorised lift inside: press a button and the TV rises out of the top, press it again and it disappears.

This is a draft. The build log fills in as the work happens.

The plan

• A box that rolls. Locking casters so it can move to wherever the people are, then stay put.
• A lift, not a hinge. An off-the-shelf linear lift sized for the TV, mounted to a back panel stiff enough that the screen doesn’t wobble at the top of its travel.
• A lid that gets out of the way. The top panel rides up with the TV so there’s no gap to close.
• One cable out. Power goes in at the bottom; everything else (streaming box, power strip) lives inside with room to breathe.

Things to figure out

1. How much clearance the lift needs at full height, so it doesn’t hit the ceiling fan.
2. Ventilation for whatever sits in the cabinet while the TV is up.
3. A finish that survives being pushed around by kids.

Updates, cut lists and the inevitable mistakes go here as they happen.