Surprised it has taken so long. They found a variable speed motor was cheaper than back gear years ago so now have saved on change gears while adding versatility. I wonder if it does BA threads as I have just been compiling a table of changegears for a friend’s EXE lathe.

Leadscrew is next to go as a stepper on the saddle engaging the rack will save on threaded rod.
As an aside since some will say the rack is not ‘precision’; in industry since microprocessors became common it has been normal to compensate for errors with a table of errors after a calibration process. This has enabled laboratory grade standards to be moved into the workplace, especially in electronic measuring instruments since the early eighties.

One of the best things I did to my lathe a couple of years back when I fitted Clough42’s version of an ELS.
Now I don’t think twice about cutting a thread, whereas in the past it was weighed up against the hassle of assembling the change wheels then dismantling and returning to the auto feed setup.

Simon