X2 conversion on a budget!

[craigrobbo]

Alright guys so after a lot of reading i decided to take up the challenge.


I found a place that helps to remove almost all back lash from a stock setup, while in the long run this is not ideal it will be great for making new parts and for the short time.

So, What I did was take the original Acme threaded nuts and cut them mostly in half, drilled and tapped to holes, this creates a somewhat rudimental anti-backlash nut.

The way this is achieved is by applying pressure to the outer sides of thread, when screwing in one direction one side of the nut will have the force applied, when the screw is reversed the opposite side of the nut will already be preloaded onto the thread meaning little backlash(at least in theory)

Here is the first mod, please expect more but this won't be a fast build!




Craig

[russell]

I did that mod a few years ago on my old Atlas lathe. It works reasonably well. I reduced the backlash from 15 thou to 4 thou over most of the travel.

There are a number of different versions of the X2. Some come fitted with cast iron iron leadscrew nuts using the same principle. I found replacing them with adjustable Delrin nuts gave a significant improvement and was a low cost exercise compared to fitting ballscrews.

Russell.