I think you would know if your mandrels were crooked. Are you making tiny beads? If so, you may have the mandrel farther into the flame than you need while applying hot glass so that gravity is working faster than you are. On bigger beads the same thing can happen even if you are out of the flame. The heat in the glass can pull it out of shape.
I know it took me a little time to get the hang of working with it. I just loved not having to spin myself, but it has been a couple of years and I've kind of forgotten what I do differently. I do know that I let what glass is on the mandrel cool a little more than I would if I were hand spinning when applying glass. It's very easy for the glass on the hot rod and hot glass on the mandrel to 'catch' and throw the whole thing off balance.
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