Mini Mill vertical play

[Jude]

My Harbor Freight has a lot of play in the vertical axis, probably about 0.050". A lot of the time this isn't too much of an issue. If I don't need to be precise on depth, I usually just put on a little friction and dial the cutter down, sort of pushing it down and counting on the friction to prevent it from going lower. If I need to be precise, I start out with the cutter away from the work-piece and lower, then raise it to make sure the last move is up. I then dial the cutter down and tap on the carriage to take up the freeplay (always to the side of the work-piece). There has to be a better way. Can anybody share some ideas?
Thanks

 

[markba633csi]

Would you say the play is in the gibs/slides or the leadscrew? Which model of mill?
Mark S

 

[Jude]

Harbor freight mini mill. Play is in the z axis adjustment. No leadscrew, it turns a cog on a track.

 

[gjmontll]

Seems there have been two related issues with the X2s. I'm not quite sure which one you are asking about here.
When I bought my used one several years ago, I quickly encountered the "sudden drop" problem. As I remember it, I'd crank the Z down several many thou for the next pass, start cutting, and the head would suddenly drop a significant amount. Sometimes this would ruin the work. I'm lucky I never broke the gears on this. I installed LMS's air spring kit and that definitely fixed this drop.
(Note: At the same time, I also installed the LMS belt drive kit. Without it, I'm sure my fly cutting would have stripped the gears.)
The other problem is the large amount of backlash in the Z gear and rack mechanism. It's annoying, but I guess that's the way it is. Just got to keep track of where you are and which direction you're going.
Greg