Thanks for all the info here, that’s fantastic. My spindle I think is the weakest part of my design right now, but currently I have a two tapered roller bearings, 1 each side of my spindle. I can’t remember the precision class, I think relatively low which makes me think I’ll need to replace them with something better to be able to cut closer to true cylinders.
Im hoping to use a 2hp motor and vfd, and carbide insert tooling to cut steel. I have no real idea how realistic this actually is but I’m hopeful, the inserts seem really nice in that they’re so cheap to change out vs full carbide cutters and all.
I guess I’ll see before too long what kind of tolerances I can actually hit, and how well (if at all) this lathe works haha