Sorry for the threadnomancy everyone but I just wanted to add some more information. I've been using my lathe for lots of odd little things over the past year, but it's never been too good for turning very small diameter styrene rod (<2mm diameter). It doesn't help that the Sherline 3-jaw chuck is only recommended to hold parts down to 2mm.
I recently discovered that such issues are normal for a lathe and thus for working on small diameter stock the best solution is to use . There are a stack of different varieties of collets and Sherline do a collet system for the lathe (using an exotic type of collet called WW - I have no idea what that stands for), but they are stupidly priced: $120 for the starter kit (the collet chuck and 5 collets) and then up to $40
per collet! I came close to purchasing the Sherline collet kit (even though I would have to purchase some intermediate sizes) but then I had another idea.
My also uses a collet system on the spindle for holding the cutter. These are called ER11 collets and are much more readily available at realistic prices ($30 for an entire set off eBay). So not only does it make economic sense to use the ER11 collets on my lathe, but having the same style for both of my machines means I don't have to carry two sets of collets!
The problem is that there is no adaptor for the Sherline lathe to mount the ER11 collets. I discussed with a friend the possibility of machining up an adaptor to screw onto the lathe in place of the standard 3-jaw chuck, but that was looking like a lot of work, requiring threads to be cut and stuff. Then my friend had a great idea - it turns out that the headstock spindle on the Sherline lathe accepts a #1 . Morse taper is a standard system for attaching chucks to drills and the like, available in different sizes. It turns out that #1 Morse Taper ER11 collet chucks can be easily had on eBay for around $15! So I've got one on its way. I'm confident that this will allow me to do the machining of fine styrene rod as I want.
I hope somebody find this information useful
Oh yeah I can make that....