If the "project" you are alluding to is the fabrication of a leadscrew
indicator dial, rest assured, threading is possible without it, and in
fact, there are occasions when it is of little use. Keep in mine,
machinists were cutting threads with the use of the leadscrew before
the leadscrew indicator was invented. My favourite reference on the
subject is a book (#3) from "Workshop Practice Series" called
Screwcutting in the Lathe by Mortin Cleeve.
The leadsrew indicator dial indicates when the leadscrew and carriage
are in a known relationship. If you stop the lathe after the first
pass (cut), retract the cutter, and with the half nuts still engaged,
reposition the carriage by reversing the lathe spindle and the
leadscrew.
There are many other ways, some easier, some harder, most are the best
way given a particular set of circumstances.
There is also an advantage to having a change gear lathe that is not
available on a lathe with QC gearbox, and that is the ability to use
any one of the 804,650 gear combinations available from a standard
20+1 gear set, using 2, 4, & 6 gear combinations.(only ~750K being
practical)

"rigger" wrote in message
oups.com...
| You're 100% correct Don. My inexperience with smaller machines lead
me
| (foolishly) to assume () without the quick change feature, of one
of
| the other models, threading would be difficult or impossible. Now I
| have to decide if this is a project I want to spend time on or
whether
| I want to skip ahead directly to threading use without the
additional
| project. I like a challenge but have so many things cooking I hate
to
| slow everything down by adding another to the pile. Thanks a lot.
|
| dennis in nca
|