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Rebuilt a parts bin bike a while back, first ride yesterday and the front end felt wobbly, cranked the top bolt down and it still seemed to be a little bit of play. Could I have used the wrong crownrace out of the bits box? Wouldn that cause the steering to feel a bit loose even with the bolts torqued up?
1 1/8th steerer if that makes a difference. budget FSA headset
Have you got enough spacers to allow the top cap to preload the bearings?
I worked on an event last week where a couple of bikes had wobbly headsets from insufficient spacers.
steerer is still pretty long as its on a DJ bike now. Lots of spacers as wanted to ride it a bit before deciding the stem height. I have the spacers a couple of mm above the tube to let it clamp down.
plan is to decide the new height, cut and knock in a new SFN. Its currently got a hope expanding thing in their at the moment. which was fine last time it was used (way back)
They are usually at either 45 or 36 degrees to suit the chamfer of the lower bearing. Have you matched that?
I thought they were all the same so I just fitted the first I picked up.  I think it was a hope crownrace, as it was a split ring with a little seal. I seem to recall the FSA one was just solid and had to be knocked on.
Thinking I'm going to have to take it apart again to check. what a pain
Unfortunately not all the same. Guessing you have likely got an angle mismatch. Change either the bearing or crown race to match, whatever you have to hand in your parts bin.
Ideally you want 5mm between the steerer and top of spacers, a couple of mm can get squeezed up so it's touching. Try a bigger spacer at the top first.