I ordered five Masonite cake boards off of Amazon. I started with 20 inches in diameter and went down three inches for each "layer." My dad did his mathematical magic and found the center of each board and drilled a hole wide enough for a metal rod to fit between them all.
Next came the tricky part. He tried using PVC in between each layer as described by the original post but guess what, cutting PVC exactly straight is almost impossible. If the cuts are just the slightest bit off, the whole stand will be crooked. On to Plan B I guess. He decided to use tea cans that we had T our house. They are all the exact same size and no leveling required. So again, we had to find the center of those and drill a hole.
I used this handy stuff, and honestly what adult doesn't like using it?
Another part Dad added was a Lazy Susan at the bottom so the whole thing would spin. Finally it came time to construct it. Mom decided she wanted to test out for David's graduation party. We put the Lazy Susan on first, and the. The bottom layer, a can and repeated until it was all on there.