Andy, Thanks for the heads up on the type of board to replace mine (should it need replacing).
I've been in the workshop today and run it without any load. Started and ran ok for about a minute, but then started hunting and "jiggering",making the gear train rattle like mad.
As modeng200023 sugested I worked the pot and reverse switch for a while and that worked a treat til I put my 2 1/2" dia stock back in. It did a 2mm cut ok but then started the jiggers again...So back to square one.
The lathe is very close to the wall so I will have to pull it out to get at the circuit board and to check the brushes.
John Rudds offer of the KB info sounds useful and I will certainly take him up on it.
That might be useful to my son who is an electrician.Problem is he works away and not due back for a week or two.
John, just about to post this when I was alerted to your latest post. It is variable speed, but don't know it its VFD or PWM ... She might have PMT, that would explain it all
Thanks for all your help .. John