I took a picture of how my lead screw nut sits relative to the cross slide as a preamble to my question. The nut has a vertical extended tab protrusion that positions into a matching notch of the cylindrical fitting. That fitting resides in the cross slide, appears to be a press fit, I couldnt push it out with finger pressure. The leadscrew nut is retained in the fitting slot by a cap screw, then assembly gets aligned on the dovetails, nut engaged on lead screw & screwed on. Then a washer bolt on the end of the lead screw as a stop, then the gib strip adjusted.
I dont have a taper attachment on this lathe & now I think I understand why it was required to be specified upon order on my particular brand. (And I chose wrong!).
Even if I had the taper attachment business installed, it could freely not push the cross slide as-is with nut engaged. I could tear down the lathe to this level, remove the nut, re-assemble thus leaving cross-slide free to slide. Bu thats a huge pain.
Now Im wondering out loud, could I somehow modify this system so that if I undid the capscrew, the nut was no longer engaged? Idea-1: I thought the nut could rotate so that its tab part was no longer up. But doesnt look like enough room in the casting trough to rotate enough. Idea-2: if that cylindrical bolt plug thing could be slid up & out of the cross-slide enough, then its extending notch is out of the way & nut would not engage it? But maybe it is a press fit to ensure tight leadscrew action? If it was a slip fit I would lose accuracy?
Whew! Any comments or pics of how other lathes deal with this issue as an example?
I dont have a taper attachment on this lathe & now I think I understand why it was required to be specified upon order on my particular brand. (And I chose wrong!).
Even if I had the taper attachment business installed, it could freely not push the cross slide as-is with nut engaged. I could tear down the lathe to this level, remove the nut, re-assemble thus leaving cross-slide free to slide. Bu thats a huge pain.
Now Im wondering out loud, could I somehow modify this system so that if I undid the capscrew, the nut was no longer engaged? Idea-1: I thought the nut could rotate so that its tab part was no longer up. But doesnt look like enough room in the casting trough to rotate enough. Idea-2: if that cylindrical bolt plug thing could be slid up & out of the cross-slide enough, then its extending notch is out of the way & nut would not engage it? But maybe it is a press fit to ensure tight leadscrew action? If it was a slip fit I would lose accuracy?
Whew! Any comments or pics of how other lathes deal with this issue as an example?
petertha, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun since Sep 2012.