Re: my little lathe

FWIW, on those mini's ya gotta spend lots of attention to all the gibs. That lathe is capable of holding .001" and better IF the gibs from the carriage, cross, compound slide are adjusted correctly. Usually the carriage and cross slide because they can be a real PITA to adjust right get the least amount of attention so they get sloppy and everything after that is just plumb luck with soft material, sharp bits, and close to the chuck holds. Anything too far out from the chuck grip even with good dead centers just magnify issues. Bottomline is forget about hardened steel and tight tolerances if gib adjustments are out of whack has been my experience. Of course going real slow and sneaky helps too. lol