taig mini-mill screw conversion: acme or ball?

[nickydubs]

i have 2 taig mini-mills, one is CNC, the other is manual. both have 60 degree lead screws, and both have backlash problems. the CNC has a mildly adjustable split nut, the manual has a nut that i don't really consider adjustable. i have some serious backlash problems, to the tune of .011 on the y axis of the manual machine, the worst of them. the average is .007, out of the six axes.

my question is this: is it possible to get these machines to have NO backlash by converting to acme threads or ball screws? if so, does anyone sell a kit?

as a follow-up question, if the answer is "no", or "not without considerable cost", can you suggest an off the shelf benchtop CNC machine that has no backlash, as i'm in the market for a new machine anyway? i machine delrin primarily, on a small scale (the size of the taig is fine for me) and a bit of aluminum, maybe 10% of the work done on the mill.

thanks for your time,

nick

[philbur]

I don't think there is any such thing as zero backlash period.

So first you have to define what is acceptable. Getting rid of the last little bit can get very expensive. But you can get close with good preloaded ballscrews, say a couple of 10ths of a thou.

If backlash is your thing and you are going to upgrade your existing machine then do not go half way and use acme, use good quality ballscrews.

If you're going to buy a new machine then have a look here for machines with ballscrews.

http://www.desktopcnc.com/

Pick a few that meet you needs on size then contact them for best price and backlash figures.

Regards
Phil

Originally Posted by nickydubs i have 2 taig mini-mills, one is CNC, the other is manual. both have 60 degree lead screws, and both have backlash problems. the CNC has a mildly adjustable split nut, the manual has a nut that i don't really consider adjustable. i have some serious backlash problems, to the tune of .011 on the y axis of the manual machine, the worst of them. the average is .007, out of the six axes. my question is this: is it possible to get these machines to have NO backlash by converting to acme threads or ball screws? if so, does anyone sell a kit? as a follow-up question, if the answer is "no", or "not without considerable cost", can you suggest an off the shelf benchtop CNC machine that has no backlash, as i'm in the market for a new machine anyway? i machine delrin primarily, on a small scale (the size of the taig is fine for me) and a bit of aluminum, maybe 10% of the work done on the mill. thanks for your time, nick