Thanks Peter, the extrusion is cut from the bed section of one of the chinese clones of the Unimat 1, sold by Harbor Freight some time in the past I think. I got it, a spare headstock and tailstock off ebay for cheap. I got it for just this purpose. I'm copying the basic design of the Unimat 1 headstock, with more readily (and cheaper) bearings. I think I'll drill and tap both ends of the countershaft for versatility too. I have several feet of the .5" round stock that I made the 12mm shaft from. I may try a making a hollow shaft with 12mm threads on the end one of these days.
Oh, I also received the aluminum stock I ordered. I intend to make replacements for the plastic end caps on the modules that make the lathe. The 'metal line' version of the little lathes comes with the metal ends.
