When everything is right and it still doesn't work, look for something non-obvious.
After I crashed my 280's saddle into the chuck, I thought I'd got away with a bad mistake. All seemed well for quite a long time until I eventually noticed the fine-feed finish was iffy. Reason was that I'd broken the shear pin but it still had enough grip to move the saddle. It was slipping, only obviously on deep cuts.
Set the lathe up to take a deep cut – at least a millimetre – and watch the drive shaft where it's pinned to the gearbox. I could see my drive shaft was rotating slower than than the gearbox output. Needed a new shear pin.
Dave