Cures for slack in the advance screws on cross and compound slides

[trapper23]

Has anyone got a cure for taking out the slack in the advance handles on these two axis on a 7 x12 min lathe Siege Clone, Its a real pain trying to rely on the indexers when thay seem to have soo much initial play..... i'm guessing dro installation would be the best solution?

[IDMASON60]

Go to Mini-lathe.Com. They have a ton of helpful hints for tuning the smaller mini lathes. Lots of good
stuff to help you make them more accurate and tighter.

Larry
S. Florida

[trapper23]

Thanks Larry will follow through on that one....... I've used that site several times as you say its a fantastic resource
Regards
Steve

[Paul Jones]

The website mini-lathe.com home page is an excellent source of improvement advice for the 7 X 12 mini lathes. In addition try the website GadgetBuilder's MiniLathe and Little Workshop and for really high-end modifications see Tools and mods - A source of info for the Home Shop Machinist. I have used ideas from all of these websites and now have a "Frankenstein" version of a mini-lathe.

[Moby Duck]

I am a couple of years late with this comment, but I understand that most of this play usually comes from a loose badly made or worn nut. Making a new brass nut is the best solution, but if lathe is old and worn you can try reversing the nut on the screw. I personally never really trust the indexers once they have been wound backwards on any cut but if you zero them and the tool to the cut using clockwise turns of the cross slide only, then move the tool off the job using the carriage only, (having never backed off the cross slide), there should be no backlash and what you apply on the indexers should be fairly correct. It often helps to put heavy hand pressure on the cross slide while it is making the new cut in case the pressure on the tool is forcing it back off the job against the screw. Lots of precision work is being done by skilled machinists on worn out equipment but they know their machines well and make allowances for the wear and tear.