No matter how I try to adjust things, I cannot get the Y axis to move across its range of travel without being sloppy at the ends and tight in the middle. If I tighten it down so there's no perceptible play at the ends, it takes at least twice as much (or maybe three times more) torque to turn the hand wheel to get the saddle through the middle 3 inches or so of its travel.

Since I'm new to milling machines, I don't know if I should accept this situation or not. The thing is, I didn't have this problem with the old base (the one that came with the Micromark) and the x axis doesn't have an issue like this, even though it has a longer travel.

The only conclusion I can come to is that the ways are too far "out-of-parallel". So I'm wondering, is there any way to fix this, or am I being too "picky", or should I send it back for exchange with another one or a refund?

Any advice/opinions would be appreciated. Thank you.