Crazy or BRILLIANT?? PM1228 Lathe You Want Manual Machining on a 38" bed...Easy Fix AUTOMATE!!!

My PM1228 has tons of features however it lacks a hand crank on the leadscrew. makes manual machining kind of hard to do on the x axis. There are lots a ways a person could do this but most have shortcomings, the biggest of which is backlash. I had all but given up on this upgrade and then an idea came to me that is either crazy or brilliant: "Automation with manual control"