I thought it was great. Granted, I don’t have a lot of experience evaluating castings. Lol
I milled it square and did the tee slots on a round column mill without power feed. Then I took it to a friend for the dovetails, and surface grind. No need for the grind, but if the equipment is available, why not?
I’ve been using it for a few years I think. I will never go back to a short slide again. I use the slots mostly for a rear mount parting tool, and a handy spot for a dial indicator.
There is a really great write up on machining a South Bend casting online, but I’m not sure it’s here in our forum.
Apologies to the OP! I would also like to find a bench die filer. The kit from MLA looks tops to me.