I have a Colchester bantam mk 1 (800). I had it for several years but not been able to get it to run after dropping it on its face on my lawn whilst installing it! I saw it running in the seller's garage.

However, with the help of a family electrician we found out that when it fell on its face the casing for the emergency stop button had been knocked in by about 3mm, which was enough of have activated the stop button inside the case – hence I could never get it to run.

Now it's running, the actual engagement of forward and reverse by a lever with a red knob on the R/H side of the lathe is a bit stiff and tricky to operate so it seems a neater solution to do away with the lever and mechanical ball joints which then act on the back of the reversing switch inside the front cover, by mounting a 3 position forward/off/reverse switch on the outside of the front cover (effectively the other side of the existing switch) wired from the existing switch. Whilst there are many different types of 3 way switch on the market , they seem to come in 2 pole, 3 pole or 4 pole versions and I'm not sure which I should use or how to wire them. (The lathe is powered by a single to three phase converter.)

Any suggestions/recommendations on selection of switch and wiring, gratefully received.