I have a Ward 2C turret lathe, it has a play/gap in the carriage wheel. I need ot know if anybody has the same lathe and ahve worked on fixing this play.
The "problem" is about as common as dirt, most lathes very much alike.
The causes include wear in the plain or rolling-element bearings for the input shaft the handwheel mounts to, plus any lock/unlock mechanism that lets it freewheel when power feeds are in use, plus wear to the shafts and bearings of any idler and final drive gear.
Add also wear on all gears and on the rack, if rack it utilizes.
IOW "cumulative wear, all players".
Worn lock / unlock, shafts and bearings are just tedious to repair, not ordinarily all that costly.
Worn pinions and gears can be seriously expensive ELSE costly in time if you have the means and skill to make your own replacements.
"Foidermore" .. It is not as crucial as a crossfeed screw and nut, TS, nor compound rest.
It isn't usually all that hard to just leave it TF alone and use it as-is if budget for time, money, skills, access to gear-making equipment, "all or any combination of the above" is limited.
It has near-zero effect on the work.
