As I work through the details, designing and re-designing the various parts to fit together, I open up unforeseen issues that I've missed. That's the beauty of this program as it lets me see the mistakes I would usually see after I had actually made the part. Working in CAD obviously has many advantages. Though I suppose if one did everything by hand the measure 3 times - cut once principle would apply here. BUT as this a complicated piece, seeing it evolve as a 3D structure is very handy.
Next hurdle: designing a self-contained 'gear-box' so as to ease the construction of the whole piece. I want to be able to remove all of the gear assemblies in one package instead of relying on the structure of the table to support the gears. This will make things much easier in the long run...