The website mini-lathe.com home page is an excellent source of improvement advice for the 7 X 12 mini lathes. In addition try the website GadgetBuilder's MiniLathe and Little Workshop and for really high-end modifications see Tools and mods - A source of info for the Home Shop Machinist. I have used ideas from all of these websites and now have a "Frankenstein" version of a mini-lathe.