Hi all,
I'm in the process of renovating my Bridgeport Series 1, and have bought some new feed nuts to install.
The old feed nuts were so worn that there was barely any thread remaining at all!
I purchased a bunch of parts from H&W in USA, including new feed nuts.
When installing the Y-axis leadscrew into the new feed nut, I noticed that it was extremely tight.
Once I got it past the first 100mm, it became much easier (where the leadscrew is somewhat worn).
I'm guessing I've got a metric leadscrew, trying to mate with an imperial nut!
It also turns out that metric nuts are hard to find/buy.
Now that the y-axis is installed, I'm inclined to leave it as is.
The leadscrew operates freely within the range that i'm likely to use it. it's only when the table is at the very back of the knee where it starts to bind.
However, with the x-axis, I'd like to try and 'open up' the threads on the nuts, so that they fit the metric leadscrew better.
Being a right-hand thread, I could do this on my lathe.
By my calcs, it should only require up to around 0.6mm of material removal from the thread, so it's nowhere near as bad as a moderately worn nut.
BTW, the nuts are split, so I'll still be able to adjust the backlash.
And I'm using a DRO, so backlash isn't critical either.
Is there any reason why I shouldn't stick my x-axis feed nuts in the lathe and re-thread them to 5mm pitch metric??
Thanks,
Hugh
I'm in the process of renovating my Bridgeport Series 1, and have bought some new feed nuts to install.
The old feed nuts were so worn that there was barely any thread remaining at all!
I purchased a bunch of parts from H&W in USA, including new feed nuts.
When installing the Y-axis leadscrew into the new feed nut, I noticed that it was extremely tight.
Once I got it past the first 100mm, it became much easier (where the leadscrew is somewhat worn).
I'm guessing I've got a metric leadscrew, trying to mate with an imperial nut!
It also turns out that metric nuts are hard to find/buy.
Now that the y-axis is installed, I'm inclined to leave it as is.
The leadscrew operates freely within the range that i'm likely to use it. it's only when the table is at the very back of the knee where it starts to bind.
However, with the x-axis, I'd like to try and 'open up' the threads on the nuts, so that they fit the metric leadscrew better.
Being a right-hand thread, I could do this on my lathe.
By my calcs, it should only require up to around 0.6mm of material removal from the thread, so it's nowhere near as bad as a moderately worn nut.
BTW, the nuts are split, so I'll still be able to adjust the backlash.
And I'm using a DRO, so backlash isn't critical either.
Is there any reason why I shouldn't stick my x-axis feed nuts in the lathe and re-thread them to 5mm pitch metric??
Thanks,
Hugh