T8 Leadscrew Bracket for Taig Lathe

I whipped up this bracket to replace the rack and pinion drive that the lathe originally comes with. I didn't mind it, but it was too fiddly to feed slowly to get good surface finishes. This is much better. 

This bracket uses the holes already present in the carriage to accept and hold the original Z-axis handwheel, so carriage modifications are not necessary for this. In my build, I just used the handwheel to hold things in place, though you could also just turn a pin the same size and use that instead. 

For the leadscrew nuts, I used two of them with a small spring to create an anti-backlash mechanism; if you're at all familiar with 3018 or other 30xx type CNC's, you probably know what I'm talking about. Additionally, I used sheet metal screws to screw directly into the mount, rather than bothering making holes. It worked just find with the size screw I used, but if you're using machine bolts, you may want to make holes for threaded inserts or use ribs. 

I found a 300mm leadscrew off my old 3d printer worked pretty well, and I got some pillow bearings to act as a guide. I may update this listing with better pillow bearing mounting brackets, though that could end up needing personalization depending on the way you have your lathe mounted. I turned my own new handwheel, and in my case, I also used a separate coupling I turned rather than making a one piece handwheel so I can replace it easily with a powerfeed if I want to. On such a small lathe, it hasn't come up as necessary, especially with this double lead T8 leadscrew.