Cross Feed Nut Adjustment

[4lathe]

I have a Birmingham 14x40 but it's very similar to grizzly and others. The manual is ridiculous and I' m wondering what others experiences are adjusting the crossfeed nut for backlash. The nut has a small socket head set screw in the end away from the operator and I've just tighten
ed that until binding of the crossslide begins then backed off slightly. Is that the correct procedure? The problem seems to be that when I do that the backlash reduces but repeatibility of the position of the cross slide seems erratic. i measured all of this with a DI so that I can clearly see the results of my screwing around. Any ideas? Thx

 

[Richard King]

I have a Birmingham 14x40 but it's very similar to grizzly and others. The manual is ridiculous and I' m wondering what others experiences are adjusting the crossfeed nut for backlash. The nut has a small socket head set screw in the end away from the operator and I've just tighten
ed that until binding of the crossslide begins then backed off slightly. Is that the correct procedure? The problem seems to be that when I do that the backlash reduces but repeatibility of the position of the cross slide seems erratic. i measured all of this with a DI so that I can clearly see the results of my screwing around. Any ideas? Thx

There is usually 3 sections of a nut under there. It is wedged shaped and when you loosen the set screws and tighten the cap screw the wedge spread the wedge to spread the threads of the other two. It's a pain to get it right. Think about it, the screw is probably worn some too and if you tighten it when your in the area where you use it the most it will be tight on the screw where there is no wear. If I were you I would crank it out as far as you can toward the back and go behind your lathe and look up there with a flash light to understand the configuration of it. Who knows the Chinese may have it as backwards and you might have to adjusted the set screws down and loosen the cap screw. You might save yourself some hassle and call the service dept and talk to a live person at Southern Machinery who sells Birmingham as did MSC / Enco who used to sell them.

Good luck, Rich