Best practices for minimizing slop between the lathe bed and the tool?

I have a 9x20 Central Machinery older lathe I have been using and trying to fix up. I have improved it quite a lot from the time I bought it through Craigslist, but I want to run an idea for this last bit of slop by all of you. So far I have managed to get the carriage and cross slide rock solid. I made a tool holder mounting block to use instead of the compound since I rarely do threading or tapers and don't need to put the wear and tear on it unnecessarily (never mind the slop it adds to the set up). Here's the problem...
I get about .003 movement from to back between the mount and the cross slide
and another .003 between the tool holder and the mount. The result is lots of chatter no matter what material I'm cutting or what tool or speed or tool height or coolant I use.
The tool holder is one of those lantern types.
My proposed solution is to mill the bottoms of the tool holder and the bottom of the mounting block leaving 3 landing pads each to stabilize their foundations. I will try this unless someone can show any reason that is would not be a good idea. Then (if I do) I will post the results in this thread.

Update: After shimming in three spots under each and finding ZERO rock or play in the connection (as far as my .001 indicator could tell)I went ahead and did machine those out to match what I had done with the shims. I'm VERY happy with the results. The really horrible chatter vanished like a forgotten memory. Parts are not only looking better I find I'm better able to cut to target than before.

The problem is it's a doorstop and no amount of shimming will fix it. The moving parts were not fitted together and it's a very light weight toy machine. If you need a better machine then get one.

It is possible to scrape the sideways into proper alignment and fitment but, that is not practical.

Damian: You forgot to read the "stickies" at the top of the forum. (Machinery Discussion Guidelines). This type of "home machine - imports) are discouraged here. You would do better at asking at HomeShopMachinist forum. These type of inquiries are usually blocked.

JH

My bad. Nevertheless, since I answered this myself and the tripod function effect produced such excellent results I can't imagine that it would not be pertinent no matter the size or quality of the machine. Perhaps a moderator could move this thread to that forum? My apologies again.

damianp said:

My bad. Nevertheless, since I answered this myself and the tripod function effect produced such excellent results I can't imagine that it would not be pertinent no matter the size or quality of the machine. Perhaps a moderator could move this thread to that forum? My apologies again.

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The mod's can't move your thread to a completely different web site.

Just because you enabled a fix to one problem, the reason behind the ban on these machines is all the other problems.

And the trick of simply "not mentioning" the lathe leads us to try and help fix what ever problem your having, and eventually it all boils down
to a bad design/execution "Lathe shaped object".

Hence the ban.

Please follow the links, and work with the members there, you'll get good advice.

digger doug said:

Please follow the links, and work with the members there, you'll get ................. advice.

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Fixed that for ya....

ChipSplitter said:

Fixed that for ya....

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"..the advice the OP wants to hear"....the friendly machinist site:
Home Page - Projects and Articles on Our Forum! | The Hobby-Machinist

digger doug said:

"..the advice the OP wants to hear"....the friendly machinist site

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Who said that!?!?!

I thought THIS was the friendly one...

ChipSplitter said:

Who said that!?!?!

I thought THIS was the friendly one...

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That one has it as a trademark....

I'll point out that Damianp has already done some of his own investigation and improvements on what is usually a crap machine, so he's shown initiative and willingness to test and repair. These are things to encourage, not toss out because of the low end machine he's on (currently).

Damian, this is a forum for professional machinists, engineers, and others in the manufacturing field. The forum owner does restrict some of the machines that are "OK" to talk about, but not processes themselves. So when you have questions about machining or lathe use, you're welcome to post them here.

If you have specific issues with your machine (like repair), then you'd be best off posting to the forums that cater to home or hobby machinists. But otherwise you can learn a lot hanging out here.

ChipSplitter said:

Who said that!?!?!

I thought THIS was the friendly one...

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Sure it is - asshole

Limy Sami said:

Sure it is - asshole

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You're letting down the side, Limy - isn't it "arsehole"?

Do arseholes warsh their clothes?