stryped wrote in
:

I am thinking of concerting my table top drill press into a
floor press by replacing the round column with a taller one. I
can get a pipe that is close to the same size in stainless, but
I would need to somehow turn the ends down where they fit into
the top and base approximately .001 to .002.

Any ideas on how this could be done without a lathe?

Did you mean .01 to .02??

One or two thou you should be able to remove by hand, with sandpaper.