compound slide screw

The Lathe restoration is now well on its way and I have found the small lead screw on the compound slide is quite worn I could just purchase new one but from the Atlas parts list (mines Halifax version) it looks different as in it uses woodruff key to locate the handle where mine uses tapper pin. Not wanting to change more than really necessary was wondering how I might determine the sizes in a hope I can just purchase a length of lead screw and rework the handle end. I know many of you guys would just make new one from scratch but I'm not that experienced in screw cutting. lathe is the 10" version.

Is it the screw or the nut that is worn? Is the problem backlash or have you measured it, or just looked at it. If it still basicly works you would be better off leaving it for the moment and getting some experience of turning.

All you have to do is measure the diameter, measure the number of threads per inch which you can also determine from the dial if it has one, and check whether it is right or left hand thread.

Its the screw that's worn for most of its travel it then gets tight on the end nearest the handle at which point the up down movement that can be seen and felt for the majority of the travel disappears. looks like this lathe has had alot of use without any lubrication at all as most of the oilers were blocked.

I think you'll find that you need to replace both the screw and nut. Had a friend with similar problems on his Myford S7, grid had got embedded in the metal of the nut, and ground the screw until it looked like a V thread form.

Ian S C