Marchant Dice router no thrust bearings?

[i2i]

a cost effective route to thrust bearings is to use a deep groove roller bearing on the opposite end of the ballscrew to the motor, which is fixed on the ballscrew and anchored to the frame. This is quite common on lower end machines and often gets mistaken for just an end support bearing. It's not ideal but gives a reasonable amount of thrust protection.

[cropwell]

How old is this Marchant Dice machine ?

[cropwell]

It looks as though you have some end float which could be shimmed out.