If you have a drillpress, great, but you really don't need one. I built my flexitable with a only a circular saw and a hand drill(used a clamped, metal level to serve as a guide for the saw to insure straight cuts). Make sure to start all measurements from the same corner (left front, say). That way if your shelves aren't exactly the same dimensions, it won't matter. Also, the holes you'll be drilling will be slightly larger in diameter than the support rods; thus your holes don't need to be perfectly perpendicular. As far as far as footer go, I brought my threaded rods to a machine shop and had them grind the ends down to a point. Cheap and looks good. You can protect your floor with expensive disks or do what I do--use quarters (cost? twenty-five cents, and free if I steal from girlfriend's change jar).
This is a fun project. The combo of wood (especially the maple you're considering), industrial size hardware, and shiny electronics is quite fetching (imo). My modest, oak-trimmed, mdf shelved flexitable garners a lot of compliments.
This is a fun project. The combo of wood (especially the maple you're considering), industrial size hardware, and shiny electronics is quite fetching (imo). My modest, oak-trimmed, mdf shelved flexitable garners a lot of compliments.