Clive, youre going back a bit – CVA? what, in Portland Road, Hove? My Father worked there during part of the last war until he was head-hunted by the Army to be a civil servant at Preston Barracks, Brighton! CVA site flattened since I was a kid and SEEBOARD had offices built there. EDF now occupy site.
Mike, I did a silly trick once, my chucks wouldnt go on mandrel smoothly so I pushed a bit harder and got one jammed on. Got it off and decided to give mandrel thread minute inspection and found a tiny rough, scabby appearance in one place – squashed swarf. Cure was an old – fashioned thread chaser, 12TPI for Myford, set lathe going in lowest backgear speed and very carefully ran chaser along thread, scraping off the swarf. Worked a treat! Moral; if it dont go, dont force it! Anyway, reason for relating this is so you can see there is another method of thread cleaning. Good luck with your prob.
John