Hiya XL! I need to get a chance to reply to you on the other forum... it's been, well nuts lately. (Work related). LOL, this is the first real chance I've had to forum surf for a while. Congrats on the lathe!
A couple of notes... get that stock supported! I have been using a "Bullnose" center with great results on my lightsaber tubes.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=40090
Get the bit shimmed... a "quick and dirty" method is to toss that MT3 dead center in the headstock side and align your cutting bit level with the point of that. It won't be perfect but it will get you in the ballpark. Get a cheap/junky set of feeler guages for a quick set of various sizes.
I have a butter tub of WD-40 next to my lathe with a chip brush in it and hit the part with that on final cuts too.
I've chucked up tubes both inside and outside (1 3/8 schedule 80 AL tube I think) with the stock chuck, they both seem to hold fine. (Using the bullnose in the tailstock)
AL likes higher RPM... to slow and I get rough finishes. I think I usually use 620 or 1K RPM.
I'll make an effort to shoot you a long winded PM on RFX about what's been going on lately in the next couple of days.