I'll have a go...
Very nice machine, for starters, and with a repeater too ?
Until you can get your hands on a Tiz-It, how about a 45* copper Ell from your local plumbing supply ? You'll need a 1-½ inch long rubber "sleeve" to connect the Ell to the reproducer, but should do the job.
As for the "Thumping when the clutch is pushed in", I am taking that to mean when the clutch is set to play 2-minute cylinders ?
My Home D was doing this, until I adjusted the alignment of the mandrel / upper pulley, etc.
The mandrel shaft does indeed pass through the feed-screw. It should not be a "sloppy" fit, but neither should there be any binding.
If you haven't already done so, I would suggest taking apart the mandrel & feed-screw, and cleaning off all old lubricant, dust, gunk, including the center bearing and the left-end pivot bearing. Then lightly oil the bearing points, and reassemble, and see if there's any improvement.
If you disassemble the mandrel / feedscrew, Clean the mandrel shaft with solvent and a soft cloth, then examine the mandrel shaft where it runs through the feed-screw, examining the shaft for "bright spots" that might suggest high-spots ?
Also inspect each end of the feed-screw tube for burrs or distortion ( egg-shape ) that might cause a bind.
If you see no "bright spots", or pits or burrs, try fitting the feed-screw back of the mandrel shaft, and see if there's any binding...
Unless you find a large burr or a heavy / deep nick that has raised "shoulders" on either side, I would not use a file on any of this.
To clean-up slight roughness, or polish-down a high-spot, I would suggest using 400 or 600 -grit Wet-Dry abrasive paper, such as is used for auto body work. You can find it in 800 and 1200 grits for finer polishing. You might use a tiny bit of light oil to "wet" the surface being dressed.
If the feed-screw sleeve / mandrel shaft show no signs of injury or spot-tightness, but still seems to be a really tight fit on the mandrel shaft( read: binding), you might try wiping the mandrel shaft with light oil, then sprinkling it with Bon-Ami scouring powder ( no substitutes ! ), assemlbing the two parts, and "working them", both rotating and sliding the two parts.
After a few mintues, rinse-out the Bon-Ami with solvent, and see how the pieces fit/ work. This type of polishing is known as "lapping" - dressing two ( or more )working parts by working them together with an abrasive medium in between.
I would not get carried away with lapping stuff... it's REAL easy to go from "it still feels a bit tight" to "Damn - now it's too loose !"
When the machine is running in 2-minute, the feed-screw / mandrel should be locked-up as one unit, so the clutch itself should not be part of the problem.
The lateral ( side-to-side ) alignment of the mandrel assembly is determined by the positioning of the center-bearing, then the left-end pivot is installed with the slightest amount of end-clearance, so that it does not cause binding.
Make sure the belt is not dragging on a pulley flange or has any lumps that might be causing the "thump" ( although, if this were the case, it should thump on both two and four minute settings... )
Start with careful observation, cleaning, and re-lube, then go from there...
Good Luck !
