[Jack Burton]

Let's say I'm cranking a mill bed in one direction and I want to move it in the complete opposite direction. Before the threads "catch" in the opposite direction I need to turn the crank through 4 mils of slop.

What is the machinist's term/phrase for taking up or accounting for this slop?

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

Compensating?

Dick Z

[fizzissist]

Taking up the backlash, or compensating for backlash.

Most of us old-school would say use thousandths...or "thou"...to avoid confusion between units. If you're using mils, that's fine...whatever works for you.

.004" of backlash isn't really that bad in a manual machine. Fortunately, as DROs become more common, we've gotten out of the habit of backlash worries. On some older mills, .010 or .020" isn't uncommon. Or more.

[Jack Burton]

Okay, thanks guys.

Most of us old-school would say use thousandths...or "thou"...to avoid confusion between units.

I picked it up from my father who was pretty old school (born 1931). I think you're right though, some young people look at me like I'm an idiot for they think I'm confusing a "thou" and a "millimeter".

[flyinchips]

Jargon! I do PCB design. Those thous are most definitely called mils in that circle of individuals.