Kind of funny you say that KC, I have a box of acrylic that I'm saving for duck calls. I wasted a couple pieces now I want to get it down on some maple first. Then maybe delrin.
Snw
I've never tried turning a call on a metal lathe, but I've eyeballed the little ones at harbor freight. They seem pretty slppy. I'm sure they will do a lot of stuff, but I don't think they will hold the .0005 tolerance you're thinking of. try moving some of the slides around in the store, kind of sloppy and jumpy. I think by the time you bought tooling, vises, jaws, centers, blocks, etc. You'd spend twice as much. I would love to own a decent bridgeport or similar but the cost is just silly for what I want to do. And turning a mini-metal lathe into a cnc (from what I've read) is a hobby all its own. I always liked running lathes and mills, cnc and conventional, but for callmaking you'd be better off with a wood lathe aNd a nice drill press.