Its really tough to realize your new gem is not perfect. But until you go about it scientifically you are basically throwing darts at the wall hoping for a bullseye. So level the lathe in both axis, let it calm down for a couple days or so, redo if necessary. You need a .005" level at the least and preferably a .0005" level. Then you need to center drill a shaft on both ends, turn between centers where the headstock center is trued by turning. then turn the shaft and see where you are. Using a 40 year old chuck to hold one end or using a clapped out collet chuck is not going to get you where you want to go. You also need to adjust those saddle bearings on the carriage. Like I said before and on the phone, the list of posts at PM is a huge resource, read thru all of em, might take a couple days, but compared to giving up on this machine it will be time well spent. Even a worn EE can produce great work, but you need to spend the time dialing it in, figuring out where the problems are and then figuring out how to work around them. Lots of issues affect end result, what is your backlash on cross slide, compound? Do you have a lot of overhang on compound, if so you could have flex, especially if your screw has horrendous backlash. Are you using a good tool post or some POS flimsy thing. If those carriage bearings are not adjusted correctly you are pissing in the wind. I don't mean to sound harsh, but you got yourself into this buying a freshly painted machine you had never seen in person or used in trial , its incumbent upon you to make the effort to sort it out, If you come back for further input you would be wise to list a detailed list of what your last effort was and how it compared to past results. Go about it scientifically, lay out all the facts and details.
michael
