ok, what I have learned so far, from advice, books, tinterweb and advice, on drilling centrally.....
Get the work as centred in the chuck as you can - use a dti
Take light facing cuts on the end until you have a flat face
use a centre drill to bore a pilot hole (centre drills have a very thick shaft - bit like this -
)
Start with a smallish drill, then work up in a couple of steps to just under finished size (say 11 or 11.5mm) use a 12mm drill to finish off
Use plenty of cutting fluid (I think I used 3mm 7mm 11mm then 12mm when doing parts for the rear uprights)
Stainless always seems harder to work than mild steel to me
Using progressively bigger drill bits gives the lathe an easier time.
Hope this helps
As for cutting speeds:
On the mini lathe - I used what sounded/felt right
On the myford - RPM is on slowest, feed is on finest - I just vary the depth of cut
