[glend (Glen)]

Not 'up **** creek' yet, thanks. I think I have found a solution. I removed the Alt bearing and had a close look at possible DIY mods and it doesn't seem difficult to do as its simply cast aluminium. The spindle part (that bolts onto the tube) is cast and open at the end where the knob bearing is located. The black knob bearing simply unscrews (once you remove the lock screw) and the knob has an aluminium insert which is already machined in the centre to locate the hole needed to be drilled.

So I am going to drill out the knob and its insert. I have a large washer that fits into the neck of the spindle perfectly and as far as a spindle bushing bushing is concerned I will either pour epoxy resin into the spindle neck (and then drill it out when set) or use a piece of dowel rod glued in place in the neck.

For the encoder bolt I will need to fabricate a locking head onto my through bolt and a cap screw type bolt seems to be the logical way to go, through drilled for the encoder shaft lock screw. So it doesn't seem that hard since the only impediment is the knob itself.

I will take some photos as I go and put them up here for people that want to DIY their own ALt bearing.