Sherline lathe crosslide backlash upgrade money saving tip

[EricB]

Sherline sells an upgrade kit for the crosslides of their older lathes for about $30. The individual parts from the kit that actually get installed cost under $6. The difference with the kit is a jig used to drill one hole that goes into the scrap bin. To upgrade my lathe I got the parts only since I also own a mill.


A little more disassembly is needed than when using the jig from the kit. The headstock needs to be removed and the lathe bed separated from its base. The crosslide has to be removed in either case. Then I just held the lathe bed by the sadle in the vice on my mill to layout, drill, and tap the hole for the locking screw. No jigs needed, saved some money to buy other tools.


Just a tought,
Eric

 

[homebrewed]

That's a clever approach to reducing backlash on a preexisting nut/feedscrew combination. I used something similar to reduce the backlash on the X axis of my mini mill.