Having inherited my late fathers early Warco Mini Lathe I have got used to its limits and found it quite usable for most tasks. It will never be on a par with the Boxford, Myford or Harrison lathes I have worked on in the past.

I recently needed to use the face plate for the first time. After a struggle to clamp a large disc to it and make it run true I watched Ades Workshop on You Tube. He had problems making a Warco face plate run true.

I checked mine for run out on its face finding it was 30 thou out of true and twelve thou on its outer rim. I was able to true it up by machining both faces, it is quite soft cast iron. To my surprise there were flecks of what looked like brass in the dust after I had finished.

I had thought of buying a Warco lathe many years ago when I was struggling with an old Myford ML4. I still think Warco are worth considering but need careful checking.

Thanks for the feedback folks. I admit I didnt think to check the face plate before trying to use it as it was still in its packing. I agree the chucks look to have been made to a better standard .In the past I have found face plates have usually been dumped in a cupboard and rarely used. I have cleaned up a rusty Harrison face plate once and then spent a day cleaning the lathe and re-grinding the tool before using the face plate.Less haste more checking come to mind.