For my next project I decided on making the MLA-18 filing machine. When I ordered the kit from Andy Lofquist he told me that I was in luck. 
Andy said he thought he had about a 6 month supply of kits just a few weeks ago but had a sudden jump in orders.
In any event he had just received a batch of castings from the foundry and was ready to ship. 

 The kit was ordered, it was delivered and I got started. I've never posted an on going build post so I thought it was time to give it a go. 

 The instructions that come with the kit didn't specify starting with the body but it does make sense to start there ( and it's the first item 
discussed in the notes). Andy points out that there are several techniques that can be used to machine to parts but the castings had been designed with the idea that somebody with a 9" lathe should be able to complete the build (with some caveats). I have a Grizzly 11" lathe and a Grizzly vertical mill of enough capacity so I shouldn't have a problem (famous last words :-) ). 

The Body casting comes with a nice hefty lug ( Thanks! Andy) to chuck up in the lathe. I chose to use a 4 jaw and given the nature of castings I would highly suggest not using a self centering 3 jaw, but with care a 3 jaw would probably suffice. 

IMG_1472 by Charles Stover, on Flickr

Using the urls until I figure why the inline links aren't working.
Sorry. 
Since this a casting there is no "reference" plane to work from. We are going to now establish that plane. 
Before I mounted the body casting in the lathe I used a centering/ruler that comes with most square kits to establish the center point, kinda. This is just a rough reference point. Sorry I didn't get a picture of it. After roughly centering the bottom in the chuck I tried to visually equalize how much was going to be removed during turning. I tapped/ jiggled the piece until I was happy then clamped down on the jaws and started turning. 

IMG_1471 by Charles Stover, on Flickr

IMG_1475 by Charles Stover, on Flickr

More later.