I read these newcomer posts almost every day. the unfortunate thing for HMT is many newcomers never return for follow ups.
Jon is very diligent in moving many newcomer's queries to other sub forums when they post questions on how ot build or when they post their creations here as well.
It seems like I've been making my own tools since way before Hector was a pup.
It's interesting that you are considering cutting off the rails of your build because of the rust, A lot of times most things can be cleaned up with a little stoning.
Glad you will be having some space allocated for your projects. In the past when I had good facilities I used to allocate some space for young men to work on their projects for free and never regretted doing so.
What cad work do you do? I 've been using Solidworks as my primary and Autocad as a 2nd since 1999
Good luck on your projects and by all means post some of your work in the tools in progress sub forum as a member of the older generation I am always delighted to see the next generation take up the torch so to speak.