On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:47:52 -0600, Ignoramus20205
wrote:

By the way guys... One question... Is it a reliable way to guess the
wear by looking at the backlash in the crossfeed?

On this lathe, the backlash (free movement of screw that does not move
the crossfeed) was about 0.003".

Does it tell me anything at all?

i

It means that someone has tightened up..or its never been used.

Gunner

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the
means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not
making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of
it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different
countries, that the more public provisions were made for the
poor the less they provided for themselves, and of course became
poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the
more they did for themselves, and became richer." -- Benjamin
Franklin, /The Encouragement of Idleness/, 1766