On Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:42:02 -0600, Ignoramus7855 wrote:

Steve, your test bar should be picked up tomorrow. Thank you.

I spent a long time with my lathe. Here's what I found.

1. The lathe spindle itself does not seem to be bent (when turned and
watched with a dial indicator).

2. The three jaw chuck, when mounted on the Lo mount, simply does not
point straight. This is clear if I mount it carefully and turn it
while looking at a dial indicator tracking its outside circumference.

3. There is a considerable amount of crud in the inside of the three
jaw chuck, where it mates to the spindle. Such as, bits of swarf
imbedded in the soft inside of the chuck. As well as irregular
structure from impact of said swarf. Obviously, someone tried to mount
a very dirty chuck once, to its detriment. I took a drill bit and
carefully lifted that crud off using that drill bit as a scraper. I
also very thouroughly cleaned the Lo spindle surface, which now looks
great and checks out well dith dial indicator (0.001" or so)

4. I then noted that I have a four jaw chuck, which I was reluctant to
use before.

Iggy, set your lathe to the tpi of the spindle, mount the four-jaw, hold
the three jaw in it with the threads outwards (or hold the mounted four-jaw
with the three-jaw, same orientation). Indicate to make sure the body is
square and centred, then clean up the three-jaw threads with a threading
tool in the tool-post. I would probably turn the chuck by hand while doing
this, so as not to change the depth of the threads and to stop before I hit
the bottom.