Drill press table?

[Masterjuggler]

I see a cubic crap ton of drill press table covers around on the internet, but no one actually making a drill press table.

I've got one of those little 8" horrible freight bench drill presses, and it works alright. I'm looking to scrap the post that came with it and use some larger iron pipe to either just extend it or turn it into a floor press, hopefully with a rack and pinion lift. I'm thinking about making it entirely out of wood to see how rigid I can get it, but will probably move on to metal if that doesn't work.

I don't have any expensive tools like a lathe or mill, but I have a decent table saw I built from a circular saw, a stick welder I made out of microwave transformers, etc. Basic home shop stuff. I also have a 3d printer I think I'll make the rack and pinion mechanism with, probably from nylon.

There are also several other upgrades I have planned for it, like the caliper DRO. I first need to get the frame rigid enough to make that worth it. Also new pulleys at some point to get below the current 760rpm minimum.

If I start taking it apart to modify it, I think I'll go the mile and totally tear it apart to possibly shim the spindle to get rid of whatever run out there currently is.

Any thoughts, criticism?