After many conversions with people here and in person, I decided that the existing stand was not structurally sound enough to continue the build. There's no way that I could put 800 pounds on that flimsy stand and sleep well at night. Fortunately there are enough build threads on here for endless inspiration and I went to work. I only have mediocre carpentry skills and I'm impressed with how this came out.
If you're interested in the build I copied, check out this thread:
http://alturl.com/bcpu6