might have messed my lathe up

Make sure your motor is adjusted to tighten the belt. If that is ok the belt could be bad.

You didn’t say how the bowl is mounted to the lathe. Is there a chance it’s loose at the mount, maybe the chuck is turning but the bowl is slipping in the jaws? Look close to see if everything turns at the same rate.

-- stay thirsty my friends...

I started out using a face plate till I got a tenon cut on the other end,,but you are right I check the face plate and it was still tight,,but after putting it on the chuck,,it still acted the same way,,,

Vibration is normal on bowls until they are balanced. Slowing down is normal on lathes with smaller motors. And green wood can go out of round almost while you are turning, pause for a second and when you start again it’s out of round. So can’t be sure there is anything wrong with it, might all be normal happenings.

-- http://thewoodknack.blogspot.com/

this is the first bowl I turned,,about 7 1/2 inches,,,

I agree with Rick M. ... it may be fine. I have a small lathe with a 1/2 hp motor, and it really doesn’t like to be pushed to its limits, especially if I’m turning dense stock. Try mounting and turning a smaller piece of stock. If your vibration problem goes away, at least you’ll know nothing is bent.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"