How does one find the center of a lathe faceplate? First, make sure the tail stock shaft is concentric with the spindle. Then fill the threaded bore in the faceplate with epoxy (after coating the threads with wax so the epoxy can be removed later). The epoxy pour shouldn't be deep enough to interfere with the spindle, mine was only about 5/16" deep. Once the epoxy has cured, chuck the faceplate on the lathe and use a Jacobs chuck in the tail stock to drill a centered hole in the epoxy. This worked pretty well for me.