Fortunately I felt well enough this morning to get back out to the workshop and would love to show you  some photo's but for some reason (perhaps its like me and worn out!) the memory card has become corrupted and will not clear, so good old eBay to the rescue and a replacement has been ordered.

Today I managed to finish turning the last shaft, which fits between the leadscrew and the gear to turn the leadscrew itself. The joining adaptor was also bored and reamed to fit the new shaft. All that now remains to do on the leadscrew assembly is to mill the long slot on the recently completed shaft, and drill a couple of holes for roller pins and glue the joints.

The last few items to be assembled showed up more items that really should be replaced. The two under saddle plates in particular. Also no shims existed and these would definitely need to be installed. I could not locate the leadscrew nut for the cross slide and am not sure it was even there when the lathe arrived. So it was a case of phoning Malcolm at Myfords and make my third and hopefully final order. which means that whilst I should definitely complete the refurbishment in the sense of making new parts, the final assembly will have to wait upon the delivery from Myford.

It seems that it was a good job I phoned Malcolm as he very kindly explained the method of shimming the saddle. There are 5 shims needed and at just under £5 a piece they are not cheap at first sight. However they are made up of various layers and they can be stripped off to get the right size. I will do a write up of the procedure on my main website with photo's (fingers crossed!) next week and it is not simply a case of putting them between the plates and the saddle (I also took the opportunity of buying two new plates as well).

I did however use the Myford lathe for the very first time today! It may only have been to clean up the end of the new shaft from burr's but it was used! When the project is complete I will list the costs incurred and an approximation of the time taken. It may make 'interesting' reading.