So in the process of breaking things, something really did get accomplished.
The DRO scales are now back on the old sheldon lathe. Still need to dial indicate the cross feed scale square, but it's mounted. Decided to mount the scale cantilevered past the carriage. This old lathe has such a short tailstock stroke, with the scale mounted in the previous position it was always in the way.
So, the new solution was to mount a 1.5x1.5x1/4 wall square tube using some existing holes. That was used to mount some aluminum angle with a plate welded on to support the scale. (Them inside corner TIG welds are always fun!). The mount was machined square and bolted to the square tube. A small angle bracket was used to attach the read head to the way cover using existing holes again. Now it's out of the way. And the wires hang free. I'm curious if heavy cutting will cause anything to vibrate. I can tap the way cover and sometimes see the tenths digit jump during the tap. Was really glad to get all this mounted without any extra holes in the machine itself.
Getting closer to putting this old thing back to work!