As Jason says, do not, under any circumstances disengage the drive ANYWHERE between the Mandrel and the Leadscrew.
And when you withdraw the tool after each cut, and then reverse the lathe (Motor ) to take the Saddle back beyond the start of the cut, take it back far enough, that when you start to run Forwards again, all the backlash between the gears, half nuts and Leadscrew is taken out.
(If it needs saying, when resetting the Cross Slide for the next cut, take out the backlash in that as well. )
Failure to take out backlash means that any hope of accuracy disappears.
Rightly, or wrongly, whether screwcutting Imperial or Metric threads, I always leave the half nuts engaged and back off the tool. As an aid, the tool is carried in a retractable tool holder (Martin Cleeve type in my case, for external threads ) which avoids disturbing the Cross Slide setting, except to increase the depth of cut ,
Howard
Edited By Howard Lewis on 03/01/2022 18:14:26