# Grizzly cross-sliding DP vise backlash



## Pat of TN (Sep 18, 2014)

Hey guys. I got a Grizzly cross-sliding drill press vise. Pretty neat item, BUT - the lower slide has way too much backlash. It's about an inch.

I don't see any way to fix or adjust it, either. All I see is, leadscrew goes through threaded piece attached to the lower slide... 

The top slide only has maybe 5 thousandths of backlash. I want to get the lower slide to somewhere close to that at least.


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## JimDawson (Sep 18, 2014)

It's a pretty simple mechanism, a nut and a bolt, not too much to go wrong there. :rofl:  However, my guess is that the nut is not attached to the cross slide, or the lead screw is not captured properly.  That's about all it can be.  Time for a teardown and cleaning anyway.  Please let us know what you find.


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## Pat of TN (Sep 18, 2014)

I'll attempt at disassembly this weekend. I believe the nut is firmly attached to the lower slide, I believe it's part of the casting, not sure. However, whatever piece that retains the lead screw and pushes/pulls the slide may be spaced too far... I'll take a look tomorrow evening and over the weekend, didn't feel like messing with it much today.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Sep 19, 2014)

I have something similar to that. Backlash could be either from the fit of the screw to the nut (a little bit is guaranteed, but shouldn't be alot), the nut not fitting the middle part of the vise and rocking back and forth (seems unlikely) or the take up nut in front of the handle being loose. This holds the lead screw tight to the "bearing" plate that it runs through. If the take up nut is loose it will allow you to screw the leadscrew in or out before it hits the bearing plate and starts making things move. When I got mine, it had a similar amount of backlash - you can just undo the set screw and push the take up nut tight against the plate to remove that backlash.
I went waaaay further and remade alot of my vise, now it works immeasurably better than stock.


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## 12bolts (Sep 19, 2014)

2 areas to check. 1) is the nut securely fastened to the slide. I doubt its part of the casting, more likely to be secured or trapped in place. 2) How much gap is there between the handwheel/s and the table when you wind them from one direction to the other. Maybe need some shims there.

Cheers Phil


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## Pat of TN (Sep 19, 2014)

mattthemuppet said:


> I have something similar to that. Backlash could be either from the fit of the screw to the nut (a little bit is guaranteed, but shouldn't be alot), the nut not fitting the middle part of the vise and rocking back and forth (seems unlikely) or the take up nut in front of the handle being loose. This holds the lead screw tight to the "bearing" plate that it runs through. If the take up nut is loose it will allow you to screw the leadscrew in or out before it hits the bearing plate and starts making things move. When I got mine, it had a similar amount of backlash - you can just undo the set screw and push the take up nut tight against the plate to remove that backlash.
> I went waaaay further and remade alot of my vise, now it works immeasurably better than stock.



I'll take a look tomorrow morning, thanks!



12bolts said:


> 2 areas to check. 1) is the nut securely fastened to the slide. I doubt its part of the casting, more likely to be secured or trapped in place. 2) How much gap is there between the handwheel/s and the table when you wind them from one direction to the other. Maybe need some shims there.
> 
> Cheers Phil



When it goes one way, the wheel is tight against the table... when you go the other way, the handwheel spins out to as much backlash as there is, over an inch, before the vise begins moving. Would a bushing between the handwheel and table take that out, if nothing else?


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## kd4gij (Sep 19, 2014)

Take a look at this thread. This member fixed one of those up nice. http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php?t=20946


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## John Hasler (Sep 19, 2014)

Pat of TN said:


> I'll take a look tomorrow morning, thanks!
> 
> 
> 
> When it goes one way, the wheel is tight against the table... when you go the other way, the handwheel spins out to as much backlash as there is, over an inch, before the vise begins moving. Would a bushing between the handwheel and table take that out, if nothing else?



There may be a nut or setscrew bushing on leadscrew behind that side of the table.  Take it apart and see how it works.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Sep 19, 2014)

kd4gij said:


> Take a look at this thread. This member fixed one of those up nice. http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php?t=20946



hey, that's me! I'm famous at last


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## Pat of TN (Sep 19, 2014)

Uh guys, I figured it out... I'm a dummy, hah. The graduated collar acts as the backlash nut. The one on the lower slide was right by the handle, where it should've been right at the vise body... so... disaster averted, heh. Whoops. Thanks guys.


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## kd4gij (Sep 19, 2014)

mattthemuppet said:


> hey, that's me! I'm famous at last






 Yes it is. Your thread inspired me to go ahead and upgrade mine. Shure made a big difference.


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## mattthemuppet2 (Sep 20, 2014)

Good job Pat, that was what I was trying to say, just not very well!

Kd - I'm very glad that it helped! I still need to put those cheap calipers on it as I've found that my eyeballs don't read to thou's


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## Pat of TN (Sep 21, 2014)

Hah, yeah. The only way I had such rapid success was because I had another pair of eyes looking at the problem. 

As long as I was at it, though, I decided to set about making new collars that cover the entire length of the shaft between the handle and the vise body. This will be a fun adventure. The ones that came with it are missing some graduations and don't look all that good.


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