Any question answered...

It's subjective... ;)

I want to sell the bike they're going on, think mass-produced is the way to go...

cheapest, safe, plain black headset spacers

How many, and what height? As long as you don't need 10mm ones right now, HubJub might well be the cheapest for small quantities including shipping.

10mm ones halve the bill (approximately) seeing as they're the same price. Got a whole load of of assorted ones from JEJames at 49p for the cheapest #panicbuyer

Thanks though.

I'm sure loads of forumers have loads sitting about from previous projects, I certainly do.

I'm sure loads of forumers have loads sitting about from previous projects

Just the people on here who have bought slam covers from me must have in aggregate about 5m of spacers stacked in their parts bins 🙂

What are these tubes called, where can I buy them

There isn't a name for them. You need to find tubing the right size and tap the ends. If you're lucky (or thoughtful) you'll find tubes whose ID is exactly the tap drill size of the bolts you're using.

I've been having a crack at making some small custom parts on a lathe

It's a nice training piece, short threads running up to shoulders in internal, external and left-hand forms. If you're not already doing so, now would be an excellent time to start threading away from the chuck.

In case you muff up the stops? I don't think I ever cut threads on a lathe - does the tool have a tendency to keep going?

you thread left-to-right (away from the chuck) for left-handed threads

the tool keeps going on thread cutting operations because you have to auto-feed it, so it keeps going until you disengage the half-nut that binds it to the lead screw.

Yes , unless you have set the lathe up correctly.
Makes quite a mess when the tool hits either the main body of the work or worst case the chuck.

you thread left-to-right (away from the chuck) for left-handed threads

You can do it for RH threads too by reversing the spindle and inverting the tool. It's not a bad way to do any thread which is open at the tailstock end, but for the part in question I'd consider it pretty much essential on a manual lathe, since you can't afford to lose thread length by creating a decent relief against the shoulder.

Ordered a tap and die set, instead received a gas powered impact driver.

Did I win?

reversing the spindle and inverting the tool.

i'm not very experienced, but I think that causes the chuck on an ML-7 (which i use) to unscrew itself

Yes, screw-on chuck and spindle reverse is a bad combination ☹️

Ah right; I vaguely recall the lathes in the engineering workshop I used as an undergraduate having stops you could set to disengage the auto-feed, but that was a long time ago now.

I vaguely recall the lathes in the engineering workshop I used as an undergraduate having stops you could set to disengage the auto-feed

Stops are an option, basic lathes don't have them. An advanced tool room lathe might disengage the half nut and retract the tool to the clearance height. For mass production (old skool) , you might use a turret lathe with expanding dies (and collapsing taps for the internal threads). If NYCCNC was making the part he would do it on a VMC and mill the threads, because he hates lathes 🙂

Royal Mail Click & Drop - I should be able to just stick the package on the counter in the PO and just fuck off right?

I’ve never come across an expander like this before. Even after removing the bolt I cannot get the thing to budge. Also there is an arrow to align with stem clamp, I guess this should face towards the seatpost? Any tips on removing the expander?

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Screw the larger bolt back in, but not tight, get something like a big flat spanner with a hole in, put the smaller bolt through hole and tighten into expander, lever upwards and pull the annoying fucker out.

And put some shoes on FFS, you want to keep them toes, yeah?

You don’t just put an hex key in there now that the bolt is out?

I’d wait and collect your receipt

Those ones get pretty stuck in, there's a video somewhere that taught me how to do it a few years ago.

If speccing a frame with 12mm rear dropouts, which thread pitch would be best to choose?
Or which is the most common/likely to last?
I can see 1.0, 1.5, 1.75mm at least.