When I was raising the cylinder, I stood on the grate until the cylinder was all the way up. Then, still standing on the grate, I turned around, facing out, before beginning my run over to the first button. I think Laura (GatorLaw) timed the cylinder at 20 seconds before it decends all the way. For me, it was about 16-17 seconds.
BTW, Bert Jamin's WT says to do the left-most button first, then one floor pedal, then the other floor pedal, then the 2nd from the left button (always running back to raise the cylinder in between these steps.)
Once the second button is pushed, the wheel automaticaly rises from the floor; then you push the last two buttons. No need to hurry so much with these final steps. When all the square symbols by the buttons are glowing, you're got it made!