First of all I think this is a wonderful forum with lots of helpful (and patient..) people.
Although readiing many posts on several sites - also the one from Crevice Reamer - regarding preparing the SX3 for CNC, something is not really clear to me.
I have read many times that in order to extend the Y-axis travel you need to cut out a portion of the column to make way for the spindle. My SX3 is still unchanged from stock but when I look at the saddle there is about 1-1/4" space between the saddle and the column, and more important the leadscrew is another 1-1/2" further away from the column.

So it seems to me that you could gain some 2 inches of travel by just mounting a spacer of 1" at the front and have a ballscrew that is 2" longer then the stock leadscrew.
What am I missing in this story, I guess the ballnut is not that much longer then the acme one? I hope anyone can and will explain this to me - Thanks in advance!