Hiya everyone

Very new member here and apologies for the novel I’m about to post here.

I have a Cormak TU2807v. Which I believe is identical to the Optiturn TU2897v lathe. It has a 40T spindle hear and has a 3mm lead screw.
I’m trying to set up the change gears to cut 16 TPI. According to the gear chart on the lathe, the arrangement should be:

H – 30

60 – 70

65 – H

Unfortunately, this arrangement appears to be impossible to assemble on my machine.

The issue is that the 30-tooth gear will not reach the fixed 40-tooth spindle gear. Even with the other gears correctly meshed, there is still approximately a 7 mm gap between the 30-tooth gear and the spindle gear. In addition, the mounting stud for the 30-tooth gear contacts the belt drive pulley housing before the gears can be moved any closer.

As a result, I cannot use any gear arrangement that requires the 30-tooth gear to mesh directly with the spindle gear.

From the gearing plate on the lathe that means every metric thread cannot be cut

Can anyone out there with experience on these machines help me move forward with this ?
I have attached photographs to illustrate the clearance issue and the interference with the pulley housing.

I would greatly appreciate any advice or technical information anyone can provide.

Thanks

Paul