DoN. Nichols wrote:

[...]

That depends. If the feed is coming through the carriage drive
or hand fed, yes it will pretty much improve things -- if the tool
nose is too much of a point for the feed. If you have a sharp tool
point, go for a finer feed. If you need a faster feed, round the
point somewhat.

But -- if your feed comes from the leadscrew and half nuts (not
present on your Taig, so that does not matter) then it will take
precisely the same path and not cut the peaks left by a previous pass,
but rather move through the existing valley. Your experience with the
Taig involves hand feeding of the carriage by necessity. There is no
other option present, so the path of the tool is going to be somewhat
unpredictable no matter how closely you attempt to feed at precisely
the same rate.

Note that some of the less expensive lathes do not have a
separate carriage feed in addition to the leadscrew and half nuts
(which *should* be reserved for threading, not turning to minimize
wear on the leadscrew and half nuts which can reduce the precision of
subsequent threading. An example of this is my ancient
Atlas/Craftsman 6x18" lathe.

I suspect this is one of those things with a fairly flat learning curve. So
many variables.


--
Michael Koblic
Campbell River, BC