What angle do you keep your compound at?

Whatever angle it was last used at.

I don't need to supplement the z axis since I have a DRO. I set at 29.5º for threading but have an easy to use gage for setting that angle so I can easily come back to that setting when needed. 0º is not used often as the compound dial interferes .with the cross feed
 
30 degrees for threading, except for Acme threads @14 1/2 deg. I never bought into the 29/29-1/2 deg. thing, was taught in high school by an excellent teacher to use 30 deg and every journeyman that I came in contact with did the same. As stated by others, 90 deg interferes with the tailstock on most lathes, and zero setting can interfere with the cross-slide crank and visibility of the cross-feed dial.
 
I removed my compound, but when I did I kept it around 84 degrees. In that position you dial in 1 thou on the compound and that moves the cross slide in a tenth.
 
I use whatever angle I need to get the job done except for threading where I set the compound from 29 to just under 30.
 
I have always done the threading at 0° infeed. It takes to much time to set the tool post back to its zero position for normal turning tasks.
When threading CNC, I mostly use an infeed angle of 0°. On large coarse threads, I switch to 30° (not 29.5°) and some times HSS tooling.
 
29.5 degrees on my Clausing, 60.5 on my Grizzly. They are both set up for threading. The difference is the old US standard (compound at 0 deg. is parallel with the cross feed) vs. the Import standard (compound at 0 deg. is parallel to the longitudinal feed).

Bruce
 
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