Now I know this is small potatoes to most of you guys but I'm having a good time.

I set it up, cleaned it off, read the manual and did a "run in" as per the instructions. I'm getting familiar with it, took the jaws out of the 3 jaw chuck and discovered that there is a trick to everything; I couldn't get all three to center again.

Once I firgured out the jaws I chucked up a 22XX hammer and took a course file to it, I just had to do something but didn't want to start with turning hardened metal. Grinding down the hardened hammer with a file works although it's slow, the lathe is an inprovement over doing it in a drillpress.

I'm impressed. Chucked up a drill bit and used the smooth end to check the run-out, .003 total. 001 high and .002 low.

The $20 dial indicator is quite impressive to a novice.

[IMG][/IMG]
however, after I went to all the trouble adjusting my 4 jaw chuck and steady rest so my barrel was centered within .001 TCIR (Total Cheap Indicator Readout) at both ends (the chuck holding the barrel wasn't adjusted in the pic), I found that my freshly cut crown wasn't centered on the bore! THEN I realized that the bore wasn't in the center of the barrel where I had chopped it in the first place!

Oh well......lessons learned are important too!!!!

I'm single, that means I've set mine up in my living room for two reasons, because "I can" and I live in an appartment and don't have a garage. I'll stash it in a closet when I'm done playing but after cleaning it up with the WD-40 I was running it in. I was paying careful attention to the workings of the machine, chuck key out of chuck, saddle disengaged and back from headstock, started it slow and spun it up with my goggles on.

When I finished I turned the machine off and relaxed, content that I had done everything properly and safely according to the manual. I looked up and discovered a line of WD-40 diluted red goop on my livingroom wall. Whoops! Good thing I didn't run it up in front of the landlord(he-he-he). I had some MEK handy and had a great time with it indoors......................

I just had some work done on my apartment and have some paint that matches so I'll add it to the list. Lessons learned.

get thrown all around when cutting, but in my case the lathe is in the basement and all you see in the pic is the vapor barrier on the inside of the block. In the future (when I was planning to retire in WV) I intended to convert the basement into a living space so the walls are "plastic coated".

Hey, have ya put any pellets through the ceiling yet? I have, and my wife noticed the hole!

He-he-he.

Hey, normal wear and tear, it's in the lease.