[SRT Mike]

Okuma LC-40 is the machine - big sucker.

I know that it's been crashed at least once (no damage, unless it threw things out of alignment). The machine is new to me. I just turned down a piece of stock... over 5.5" it's about 1 thousandths smaller at the chuck end. Is that within normal specs? I was turning a 1.75" OD piece of 6061AL down to 1.5 (last pass was .010 DOC) so maybe there could have been some deflection causing the error?

And, the bigger problem - if I face a part, I end up with a little "teat" about 20 thousandths in diameter. The previous owner used to just put shim stock under the tools because he didnt want to have to pay to get it adjusted. In the user manual there is a process to adjust the headstock, but if .001 over 6" is normal when i turned the part, wouldn't that be throwing the alignment of the bed out? So I am thinking I need to adjust it at the turret itself? How do I do that and how do I know how much to move it? Put an indicator in a tool post and.... what? How do you figure out when you got it dead on?

And last but not least, when I just turn the spindle on and look at the chuck, sometimes it seems that it's turning slightly out of center - like it's slightly "bobbing" up and down. It may just be me thinking it is and being paranoid, but should the chuck be rotating totally true? Or is it impossible to get that? If it's out of alignment, do I just unbolt the chuck and try to true it up? I doubt the spindle shaft is out of true, because it's gotta be at least 8" in diameter (machine has a 60hp spindle, pretty heavy duty). The chuck is 12" and must weigh a ton, I am afraid of unbolting it because I have nothing to support it and I bet that sucker weighs more than Rosie O'Donnel after an all you can eat buffet!