Engagement doesn't have to be precise. You don't need a nice thin narrow line etched on the thread dial mount to ensure you engage in the precisely the right spot, the brass rivet fills that function.
The half-nuts will only engage the lead screw when the dear lines up with the thread, it is not like you are going accidentally engage 3º off of the right position because the pointer on the background is so large. You try to engage too early, the half nut will just ride on the lead screw until it engages in the right place.
If you don't like the rivet, you can scribe or paint a nice line anywhere you want. 12 O'Clock, 3 'O'clock, wherever you want it (with the half-nut engaged as Tony said).
Motor seems to be pretty noisy but other wise iM pleased
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Take the belt off, and run just the motor. Still noisy?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Look at the belt, does it have a set to it that might be causing vibration? If it is not a gates v-belt (which it probably is), than buy a good gates v-belt. You can also try running it with only one of the v-belts; some people say that reduces the vibration nd you probably aren't going to slip a belt on only 2 hp.
Replacing with a quality motor seems to be a popular upgrade. That is on my list (G0709), after I add sandwich vibration mounts.[/FONT]