Dave. I wasn’t originally going to bother about screw cutting and just use taps and dies, but as they say “the devil makes work for idle hands” at the moment I’m just exercising my brain to see it is at all possible. It might never happen.
Not sure why I tried doing it via the rack, sort of forgot about using a lead screw, which is a better idea.
I can still use part of my gear design to make a powered carriage and cross slide via an electric motor mounted at the tail stock end. Then i can use a lead screw and mount the change gears at the head stock end for thread cutting. All I need to do then is make a clamping mechanism at the apron to grip the lead screw.
As with most home made projects, will it ever be finished ? I’ll always find something more I can try to add to it.
Thanks for the feedback, Noel.