New lathe, many questions.

[rbattelle]

Kenny, The setup is the most important. You need a precision level.

I agree in principle with Greg, but I will say that I've been very naughty and not only is my lathe not leveled, it's sitting on a wooden platform! Nevertheless, nothing I have made so far has had significant taper. But then, I've not done any precision turning yet.

Backlash adjustment??? I have . 023" of play. Is there any way to take it out??

As Greg said, there's no way to remove that backlash unless you replace the cross slide lead screw AND the nut. But people tend to get hung up on backlash for no good reason. As long as you always "take out" the backlash by moving the slide in only one direction and starting from far away from the work, everything is fine. Don't use the cross slide dials to measure absolute distance, only distance relative to the previous pass.

Anyway, who am I to give anyone advice, I'm a total amateur. All my learning comes from books.

Nice little lathe you've got, Kenny. Once you learn her limitations, she'll do anything you ask.

-Ryan