Outside my skill set..........
I was lucky I think, as all I've had to do to my lathe was to remove the red anti-corrosion grease and take off the burred edges. Having stripped it down for cleaning, I then had to adjust everything anyway, so I'm not sure what it was like out of the box. The slides still need adjusting now and again, but thankfully I haven't had to touch the shears.
I've never heard them called 'Joey blocks', I've always known them as gauge blocks. The mech test lab had a set for calibrating micrometers, etc. which we had to send out for recertification every few years.
Optically flat glass will stick together in a similar way to gauge blocks and I've seen lens assemblies that were put together that way without any adhesive.
Regards,
Graeme