Tightness and backlash in a Criterion DBL-202

[mikey]

If you dial in the desired depth of cut in only one direction then backlash is not an issue. If you need a thousandth of an inch more from the bore, take up the slack in the leadscrew before loosening the center locking screw and turn the dial a thou. Criterion heads are direct reading; if you dial in a thou, the bore gets a thou bigger.

 

[mksj]

FYI, I have a new Criterion CB-202B head, and it has about 20 thousandth dial backlash. Seems like quite a bit, but once you have taken out the backlash it moves smoothly/accurately. You may have some tightness in some places due to those areas that have had little use/wear. I also have a Narex boring/facing head, but it has almost no dial backlash, the design is quite different.

 

[11andrew11]

Thanks guys. All that makes sense. I am familiar with taking out the backlash when setting things up, but I still really appreciate your willingness to help. This is my first post here, other than the intro, and I like this community already.

I think I was having trouble reconciling that 1) the boring head seems to be pretty tight while 2) there seems to be a large amount of backlash. Since #2 is somewhat subjective, I was just trying to calibrate.

I ordered a tube of the SuperLube from Amazon.