Hi,
Nice job with your lathe. I have one just like it and I like mine very much. I've thought about the accordion chip shield but haven't gotten around to it yet. They don't waste any effort on the tailstock clamp do they. I had to fit mine better too. I kind of had to because I made a cam-lock for my tailstock. The cam-lock is a good mod and relatively easy if you are so inclined.
Only other mod I did so far is to add a clamp bolt to the tailstock. The top and bottom aren't really fastened together. The only thing holding the top to the bottom is the big clamp bolt when you tighten the tailstock down. I added a small clamping bolt to hold the two pieces together.
Do you like the link belt? I'm still running on my original belt after 2 years. But I'm thinking I should get a spare something on hand pretty soon. And a link belt seems like a good choice.
dalee