I recently replaced that nut on my Atlas 10" lathe. I had about the
same amount of slop. Glad I did it.
My big problem was that with all that slop, the tool could dig in at
the drop of a hat, making for inaccurate work. I guess that could easily
look like a rigidity problem.

Pete Stanaitis
-----------------

Grant Erwin wrote:
I have a venerable 1949 South Bend 9" lathe. Sadly, its cross-slide nut
(or screw, or both) have a fair amount of wear, as I can grab the
cross-slide table and move it nearly 1/16" with my hands. I'm whittling
down a block of 303 stainless and it seems like it's taking forever. The
machine is cutting the 303, but I can only advance the cutter about
.010" between passes, and reducing the diameter .020" at a time is going
to mean a lot of lathe work. I don't really have to do it, of course,
but it has led me to wonder if the slop in my cross-slide screw actually
contributes to lack of rigidity while turning. I have always figured as
long as the slack in the screw was taken up, it wouldn't make any
difference whether there were .004" of backlash or .040". Yet I don't
have a complete understanding so I thought I'd post this to the group.
There is an advertiser in HSM that offers new cross-slide nuts and
screws for my lathe at what seems like a reasonable price.

GWE