CF, it's feed screw gear ratios and tolerances that count... well, and the swing, of course.
Precision tolerances are not the best on the little china machines, but they are acceptable for many projects.
The gear selection is important for the many different threads.
You are gonna have SO much fun learning about that lathe!
Tapers... learn how to cut tapers!
and look for someone who has built a tower attachment for milling...
gotta watch the reverse... sometimes the chick is not pinned and might unscrew when using the reverse.
boring bar... see about getting a small boring bar to learn about that.
I think it's littlemachines.com that is a great site, and the home lathe guys at yahoo groups is also very good... I'll get the address for you and post it.
lol... now ur gonna be looking for al scrap bits that you can chuck into your lathe to make all sorts of things! lol
casting al will be next...
Best
rc