Cross feed nut

RJ-Jr

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My Wade 8a had a lot of play in the nut so I made a new one from bearing bronze. It’s pretty tight but hopefully it will work itself in. I used a $30 tap I got from eBay, 7/16-10 left hand Acme thread. No more backlash :)
rick
 

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How about posting a picture of the lathe? I saw a Wade lathe many years ago and was impressed with it, it was quite nice. I like the quite long length of the nut, should last a long time. I made one for a 14" American High Duty lathe many years ago that was cast iron and 3" long with acme threads, also made a new screw for it, so nice to have a screw and nut with nearly no backlash.
 
The Wade is #696 which puts it late 1950’s production. It has a US Navy property tag on the back of the bed. It’s in pretty good shape And is real nice to use.
 
The Wade is #696 which puts it late 1950’s production. It has a US Navy property tag on the back of the bed. It’s in pretty good shape And is real nice to use.
Does it have the wide front way like a Leblond?
Not sure what the Leblond looks like but the Wade ways are not symmetrical. The front one is about an inch+ wide and a lower angle.
 
Not sure what the Leblond looks like but the Wade ways are not symmetrical. The front one is about an inch+ wide and a lower angle.
Yes, that was what I was asking, and is as the one that I saw so many years ago (early 1960s) in our school machine shop class, it came from surplus, and the night class guys rescraped the ways, etc. I figured that the teacher would give it to himself as a retirement present, but that did not happen, what became of it, I never heard.
 
Regarding the tightness... I know some guys will smear a little lapping compound on the threads and run it back and forth awhile until it relaxes. Not enough to loosen things (obviously not the goal), but it will smooth off jagged spots at the microscopic level that are making it feel stiff.
 
I’ll give that a try if it stays tight. It’s certainly workable now just a tad tight.
 
Man, I'd worry the lapping compound would embed itself in the soft nut and wear the screw forever. Maybe I am wrong.
 
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