Bill
We have bought 3 new lathes in the past five years, and all of the heastocks are adjustable. They are mounted on a pivot dowell that allows you to align the headstock dead on with the ways of the machine after you have the bed level and with no twist. SAfter you do this, you align the tailstock with these.
So are our two 18 inch Mazaks that we bought back in the 80's.
The last lathe we purchased is a 22 inch Kingston, which is a clone of the Mazak. When Mazak quit making manual machines a number of years ago, Kingston bought the rights to manufacture the design.
Anyway, after we had the lathe set in place, a technitian came out, and had all sorts of test bars and lazers. After he said the lathe was set up, it cut about .004 taper in just 6 inches. He played with it all day, and we finally just took a Starret 12 inch Machinist Level, got the bed right, adjusted the headstock to where the lathe cut and bored straight, then adjusted the tailstock to where it cut true between centers.
I don't know why he just didn't do that in the first place.
But this is all childs play. Try keeping a 44 ft lathe that weighs about 120,000 pounds dead level over the year, especially when you are sitting on a re-claimed swamp such as Houston.........jackie