The lathe is just like this one here: (
http://www.lathes.co.uk/delta metal/page3.html). It has a separate cabinet under the head and tail portions. There is a chip pan suspended under the central bed between the cabinets. No, I have not taken the bed off the cabinets. I did not see any benefit. I did take the saddle off and clean it and the apron gear box.
I mic'd the carriage vee-way by placing a vee-blk on the vee-way (I throughly cleaned the ground surfaces underneath the vee-way and the vee-way itself.) i started by also mic'ing the extreme end where I doubt there is any wear (2.9824"). I mic'd ,from under the chuck, every two inches (the length of the vee-block) for eleven iterations.
Here are the numbers from left to right with position "A" under the chuck.
A(2.9809"), B(2.9798"), C(2.9792"), D(2.9795"), E(2.9797"), F(2.9798"), G(2.9795"), H(2.9800"), I(2.9800"), J(2.9806"), K(2.9815") ------------------------- tail (2.9824").
Diff ------ .0010 ------- .0007 ------ .0004 ------ .0002 ------ .0001 ------ .0003 ------ .0005 ------ .0000 ------ .0006 ------- .0009
Direction - ................... - .............. + ................ + .............. + .............. - ................. + .............. n/c ............ + ................ +
I agree, not a lot of wear here in my very inexperienced opinion.
I will proceed to improve the bedding of the lathe to the concrete floor (more stable base) and then go from there. I will report back (may take a few weeks).
Thank You all very much.