Bugger... :confused:

I thought it prudent to take off the stepper motor and slide the ball screw up on my X-axis from my Boxford 160 lathe I'm working on (build thread to follow when I find time) so I could accurately measure the pitch of the screw to calculate the settings for Mach3 motor pulses.

BIG MISTAKE

It appears that all the balls from the ball screw mounting pillow block have fallen out the bottom. I still have them all in the swarf tray; but that's not the point!!!

I've tried to remove the pillow block, but it seems I'll have to remove the whole X/Z slides to remove it :cry:

Does anyone have ANY ideas as to how to pererably fix or go about replacing the ball screw retainer...? :cry:

Got the biggest sinking feeling and almost shat myself when I realised the bits falling out the base of the slide wasn't old swarf. :surprised:

Ta,
Dan