I heard back from Axis_gb , Sony's Uk distributor for the lathe's magnescale DRO. They have a replacement switch overlay in stock for <£10 and will supply a manual for free :) Truly superb service :)



It's a testament to the robustness of the magnescale scales that they were still working (over the 2" or so that I could move them) while stuffed almost full of congealed coolant. There's no way a glass scale would have survived. I took them apart and scraped most of the stuff out, then cleaned them with safewash pcb cleaner (doesn't eat plastic, unlike some solvents) now they're working OK. (



More good news...

I had been disappointed to find that there were no change wheels or banjo behind the machine's gearbox cover (all the pictures I had seen of the HLV's had gears). Mick (the man on the forklift) spoke to one of the machinists at the firm I got the lathe from and he says they don't need change gears at all to cut English threads, the built in gear box works without them. :)