Carriage Slop

lcorley

lcorley

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Nov 16, 2014
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Hey guys,
I have a Wards/Logan 04TLC-700A. It seems as if there is an excessive amount of play in the carriage slide.. The gibs take up all the side play, but there is about 0.025" movement fore and aft. I adjusted to crank handle to minimize this, but the 0.025" seems to be slop in the leadscrew and Crossfeed Nut. These are available from Logan Actuator, but they are really pricey ($215/$78) The slop seems to be constant across the range of carriage motion. I would expect leadscrew wear to be worse in the normal position and better at the extremes. So could it be that this is all due to a worn Crossfeed Nut?

regards,
Leon
 
It sounds like you have wear in the crossfeed nut. If it were due to the lead screw, would most likely find more wear in the region where it was used the most. Since it is rather uniform throughout the travel, the nut would be suspect. Check to see if the nut mounting is loose. On my Atlas, a single screw fixes it in place. On my Grizzly as well. If the mounting is tight, then most likely thread wear. You can inspect the the lead screw visually for signs of wear; .025" is a lot and will be visible.
The easiest fix is a new crossfeed nut but it is possible to repair them to make them serviceable.

Bob
 
Check eBay too for the nut.
 
Thanks for the input, Bob. I looked at it some more and couldn't find anything else to blame it on other than the crossfeed nut.
Eeler1, thanks for the ebay suggestion. I ordered one @ $38. It looks to be made of bronze/brass.
Should be here in a few days.
We'll see how much improvement I get.

regards,
Leon
 
I bought one of those on Ebay from Jayhawk Machine Tool and it fixed my crossslide right up. The nut is made of brass so that it wears before the screw.
 
I got the new feed nut installed. Now I have about 0.007" slop. Part of it is the handle bushing.
I haven't had a chance to make any chips yet, but I believe this will be a lot better.
 
Another possibility, make a jam nut, either buy a new nut, butcher the old one, or make one, screw it onto the crossfeed screw up against the working nut, and snug it up to eliminate slop. Secure it in place with a spring clip or set screw.
 
Don't forget that even brand new, all manual machines are going to have some backlash in all of the feed screws. Get into the habit (it quickly becomes second nature) of always approaching the desired set point from the same direction. From the operator for OD operations and toward the operator for ID. If you overshoot, back up past the desired setting and try again. The only time that backlash becomes more than just an irritant is the rare occasion where the work pulls the cutter toward itself.
 
They do make zero backlash lead nuts for some machines but they are more headache than they are worth. Tim
 
That's true, on both counts.
 
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