mm52,
Glad to see you are back. My current table is 5x10 and I have roughly 5" X & Y to spare. This is way to small! To do it over again I would allow at least 10".
There is a post somewhere on this forum that suggest linear rail over the round stock.
What is your thinking on that.
Take a look at these guys.
http://automation4less.com/
I have not purchased anything from them yet but their web site is nice.
Good luck,
Tom