New to hobby my first project

Looks good.

I had trouble parting when I first started down this machining rabbit hole. What happens in a light lathe like yours is the blade gets forced down and under the work as you feed the blade in. This is a recipe for disaster.

With your lathe can you run it in reverse without the chuck unscrewing or mount a parting tool holder on the backside of the cross slide?

If you can run in reverse then mount your parting blade upside down. With the blade upside down the blade will get pushed up and away from the work as you feed the blade in.

Better yet if you can mount a tool holder on the backside of the cross slide. If you can mount a holder on the backside of the cross slide, then you can make a special parting tool holder. See this thread by mikey.

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Rear mounting a parting tool ... if you can

I am moving this discussion on rear mounting a parting tool to this thread rather than continue to hijack another one. In this thread, I noticed that @NC Rick had t-slots running the length of his cross slide and suggested to him that he consider making a rear mounted parting tool. For those...
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Thank you, I tried it in reverse, still the same results, I did sharpen the blade and it's cutting a little better, nothing like the watch spring curl other people seem to get!
 
Parting is challenging. Keep at it. You will eventually find what works on your lathe. Try different size parting blades. Look for ways to make your setup more ridge. Try different speeds and feeds. One thing that I do is feed in a little bit and then back off. The tip I currently have on my blade is just slightly not square across the tip of the blade. Also I sharpen mine on a bench grinder so the front relief is curved. I found that helped my parting.

And sharp. I mean really sharp. Can you shave the hairs off your arm?

On deep cuts I sometimes go part way and then move the blade over a fraction to make the groove slightly wider than the blade. Then finish parting off.

The point of all of this is to keep experimenting until you find what works for you.
 
other ideas for improving parting....

it's basically about reducing unwanted slop/motion:
tighten the cross slide/top slide gibs as much as reasonable
lock the carriage to the bed

be sure parting tool is square to work, I like to align it to chuck face between jaws
lots of cutting oil; I like pipe threading oil for steel and smokeless paraffin lamp oil for aluminum.
(some links below)

I initially thought that a narrow parting tool would present less cutting edge to the work and therefore offer less cutting forces....
However, I instead found that the extra rigidity of a wider parting blade is actually the better choice.

...and finally, know the limits of your lathe; don't do anything dangerous lot's of hobbyists cut off at bandsaw or with hacksaw.

Brian

https://www.homehardware.ca/en/1-l-pipe-cutting-oil/p/1142041'
https://www.homehardware.ca/en/paraffin-lamp-oil-ultra-clear-odourless-710-ml/p/4360517
 
I have found that once my parting tool is ground/honed to the point that it can shave photons, it matters nought unless it's at the right height. Too high or too low, different kinds of badness can occur. It also seems that marginal instances of "badness" can result in digging-in, which in turn can stress a lathe that's not properly tightened-up, in terms of what parting-off needs. Making sure all your gibs are properly-tightened helps, particularly when it comes to the compound (or top slide). I'm speaking in terms of my small benchtop 7x12 lathe so it can be challenging in terms of rigidity -- but, once everything is set up correctly I have no problems parting-off steel items in my lathe.
 
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