Well, at least this is why mine isn't. It's probably a common defect, but there are so many ignorant bodges that attempt to fix the problem with shims that actual standard lathe building practices have never appeared in any mini-lathe discussion I've read.
The problem here is that the flat portion of the headstock to the left of the vee needs enough metal removed to let the vee fully mate. IIRC I measured it as 0.003" using feeler gauges on both sides of the vee and a bit of trig.
So this is a few hours of bench work with files, scraper and surface plate to fix. Easy to do, just time consuming if you're not proficient at it and have to feel your way along for the first time as I shall have to do. Though I do have the advantage that I regularly practice my bench work instead of setting up machine tools for a trivial task. It's a finger tip skill just as is trowel work or playing a musical instrument. You've got to stay in practice.
One could bodge it by inserting a shim along the side of the vee, but that would not correct any lack of spindle parallelism in the vertical plane. So a 2nd shim would be needed and probably another to fix the errors that introduced.
Have Fun!
Reg
