I've been searching the forum but haven't found my answer. I have never owned a lathe. I just purchased a South Bend 8K SB1001 and the South Bend bench to put it on. The lathe came with a rubber gasket to put between the lathe and the bench. I would imagine to help keep oil from running into the bench through the mounting holes. So do I level the lathe using the adjustable feet on the bench ? The bench is made with eight leveling feet. It's like two separate cabinets, one on each end with a solid one piece top connecting the two. For some reason it just doesn't seem right to me. I can see leveling the bench using the feet, just seems like the lathe itself should be fine tuned using jack studs on a metal block bolted to the bench. Am I missing something ?
Ok, this is my first stupid question, many more will follow. The instructions with the lathe say bolt it to the bench. Another manual I have on setting up a lathe say bolt it to metal blocks with jack studs. Is it just a personal preference thing ? It would look better just bolting it to the bench with the gasket but if plates with jack studs work better, I'd rather do that now than find out later I should have. I hope this makes sense ......
Ok, this is my first stupid question, many more will follow. The instructions with the lathe say bolt it to the bench. Another manual I have on setting up a lathe say bolt it to metal blocks with jack studs. Is it just a personal preference thing ? It would look better just bolting it to the bench with the gasket but if plates with jack studs work better, I'd rather do that now than find out later I should have. I hope this makes sense ......