My avitar is a picture of my lathe. Bed, legs and tailstock are cast iron by Oliver. The headstock is home made (original was lost in a fire). The 1-1/2" spindle is supported by two flange bearings on each end of a steel and plywood box.
Turning spindles between centers is very forgiving, as mentioned above. A spur center can handle that. The problem comes when you try to hold one end of a spindle in a chuck and drill a hole in the other end.
Just because the points touch does not mean they are aligned. Either one could be unparallel to the bed left and right or up and down. Been discussing this problem with a master machinist. Haven't come up with a way to really check. I tried an inexpensive laser bore sight and not sure it told me anything. I build an adaptor to fit the headstock. It traces a small circle just a little off center on the tailcenter but that doesn't tell me if my homemade adaptor is off, the headstock is off or the bore sight is not dead on.
Roger that. I have a bore sight checker for .45 ACP and have considered using it for this, but as you said you dunno if it's the chuck, fixture, or headstock if it doesn'tline up.
Why not use this
http://www.novatoolsusa.com/NOVA-Acruline-System-2MTNA.htm If the bed is flat and straight than the remainder of the lathe is aligned.
Thanks, Bob. That's a clever idea.. a piece of steel with a #2 MT at both ends. The lathe's bed is flat, and I trust Oliver that the tailstock is dead on. I'll buy one of those Nova thingies.