What is “backlash” and how much of it do the leadscrews have?
Backlash is the play in the engagement of the leadscrew threads which allows a few thousandths of an inch to be turned on the handwheel before the leadscrew starts to turn when changing directions. This is a fact of life on any machine tool and is accounted for by always making your cuts in the same direction and keeping track of which way you turned the handwheel last. Backlash is usually set to about .003 to .005″ (.08mm to .12mm). The X-Y leadscrew on the mill has a backlash adjustment, but it is still recommended that it be set to .003″.
