Alan Pearce Thanks! I am also anxious to see how it turns out 😁

Hope so.. look forward to see them finished

Thanks! Need it .. ha, ha

I considered ballscrews on one machine.. Maybe I will do justvto try out?? That would be kinda cool..

Me too! Yes, I went for the 2 axis. i reckon it will not the last they see of me either :) Probably will order more if it turns out OK

Thanks! Yes, I realized that 3mm would be a good choice. Anything between 2 and 4 will do good with the ELS. However, I had already bought some 2 mm precision leadscrews and although this is a little slow when using the handwheel on the right-hand side, ie. manual feed with the leadscrew, it is not a problem with the motor-driven ledscrew. As it tirned out, at least 2 (maybe 3) of the original imperial leadscrews are OK, and as the ELS will function with this also, I might just use those. My reasoning for a 2mm pitch was that if I install the metric screws on a machine with the configuration I originally planned, namely with a motor driven rack feed, ie. using the apron mounted handwheel for manual fast-feed and "reserve" the use of the leadscrew to threading, then I figured the geartrain combinations would be simpler. I might be wrong though :)

I'm not sure if they would be easier Jan. I honestly have no idea, but my thoughts were quite the opposite in that there are a bunch of 3 mm pitch leadscrew machines around, and the gear combinations are already well established. One of my lathes is 3 mm, the other is imperial 8 tpi. As you say, if you're going to run an ELS then it won't make any difference besides requiring the motor to turn faster. I have a simple scraping job I've been meaning to finish and get up on KZfaq. Auto generating a precision master square. However just been too snowed under with other work at the moment. Hopefully in the next few weeks. In the meanwhile I will just have to do my scraping vicariously through you ;) Thank you for keeping my hand in :P

Hi Pete, sorry for delayed answer. I am sure you are right about the 3mm metric conversion from an 8 tpi (3,175 mm lead) being the most obvious choice. Done is done, ie. i made the purchase already and as my thoughts were leaning towards using the ELS or if a motorized feed using the apron handwheel ie. rack, the leadscrew solely in use for screwcutting, the combinations seems nice with regards to 2mm lead and the available "smaller" gears (20 and up to 60, 70 or 80 teeth). Auto-generating a precision master square? Yes, please.. you have to make a video on this.

Have you seen the videos of the ELS on their website? I assume the owner himself has a Wabeco lathe, but I also see they show a Paulimot (Sino/German adventure) lathe, and I have learnt that Stefan Gotteswinter has installed this system. All these lathes are change gears "only" as standard (I think), but then there is another video on an EMCO 11, where the Z (longitudenal) axis only is mounted. Video showing threading and then the manual infeed. Still impressive!

Funny enough Jan it was Stefans video where I picked up the Rocketronics name and how I found out about them. And yes have watched there videos. Previous to Stefans mention I hadn't even heard of them. Those Emco super 11's are my idea of the perfect sized lathe for my shop since size and weight are pretty restrictive for me. I looked for over a year for an excellent condition Super 11 before finally giving up. All I could find in very good condition were either far over priced or 3,000 or more miles away. Emco's overall design did affect my buying choices though. I finally bought the same as Warco in the UK sell as the WM 280 VF. Certainly not Emco quality but it's ok I guess.

The Warco seems to be a good lathe (I had at look at their range at the London model engineering show now recently). But this surely has a gearbox?

Yes it does have a gearbox, but what they don't mention very much is it's only a semi gearbox with a limited feed and threading range of 3 choices per gear change. George Thomas's writings also swayed my thoughts about exactly what I wanted so the tee slotted table wasn't in my opinion an optional choice. Adding at least one servo like that Rocketronics kit for an ELS system to get basicaly unlimited metric/imperial threading and longitudinal feeds would be a very nice added improvement over the factory design. I think Stefan mentioned he's going to do a video on his ELS and with what you find with yours it should be an interesting comparison from 2 people I respect very much. Mine is an ok lathe, but it's no Schaublin or Hardinge HLV :-) Speaking of Hardinge, if you haven't seen it yet Babin Machine in the U.S. offer an industrial quality version of an HLV ELS system that could be used on other machines. Quite expensive though and I think there's is around $3,000 - $4,000 U.S.

Thanks for the nice words! Re. Warco lathe: I see.. well.. have you ordered your ELS by now? :) Will check out Babin machine!