Bob,
Yes, I like those big hunky pieces of tube stock and also, when I made my bench, I spent a good bit of time calculating heights that would be comfortable for me. There was a big improvement in my personal comfort when it was all said and done... -A very worthwhile effort indeed.
Also, I want to point out, there is much more involved than just leveling the lathe with a spirit level. This has been covered many times here are there are some articles that cover the generally accepted procedures. In a nutshell, folks tend to level the lathe to some reasonable degree which may involve just enough "un-leveling" to cause the catch pan to drain properly. After that, there are techniques to make leg shimming adjustments until the lathe is cutting perfectly. Please lookup those articles and save yourself a whole lot of time and frustration...
Ray
PS: You'rd doing nice work. Keep it up...