hello everyone another newbie here, just a quick couple of questions thats niggling me

ive bought an ml7 and setting it up, got the bed level, adjusted the gib strips as they seemed very slack with a bit of movement to me, ive also invested in an mt2 test bar, which ive put in the headstock and run a dti along it ontop and to the side which is 0.002" out on both planes from one end to the other.

my questions are

1) how tight should the carriage & slides be (i can push the saddle by hand but not the slides)

2) is 0.002" out acceptable i would have thought is should be the same along the total length? will the bearings need adjusting to correct this? ( there is slight movement when the nose is forced with a bar 0.001&quot

3) when i do rolly's dads method most posts state shimming head /tail stock for adjustment would it be acceptable to utilize the jacking nuts on the

blocks? the reason i ask this is that there are no washers between the lathe and the riser blocks so not much to bed on.

many thanks for any replys in advance.

paul.