In certain applications, backlash is an undesirable characteristic and should be minimized.
Leadscrews where positioning and power are both important
Another area where backlash matters is in leadscrews. Again, as with the gear train example, the culprit is lost motion when reversing a mechanism that is supposed to transmit motion accurately. Instead of gear teeth, the context is screw threads. The linear sliding axes (machine slides) of machine tools are an example application.
Most machine slides for many decades, and many even today, have been simple (but accurate) cast-iron linear bearing surfaces, such as a dovetail- or box-slide, with an Acme leadscrew drive. With just a simple nut, some backlash is inevitable. On manual (non-CNC) machine tools, a machinist's means for compensating for backlash is to approach all precise positions using the same direction of travel, that is, if they have been dialing left, and next want to move to a rightward point, they will move rightward past it, then dial leftward back to it; the setups, tool approaches, and toolpaths must in that case be designed within this constraint.[citation needed]
The next-more complex method than the simple nut is a split nut, whose halves can be adjusted, and locked with screws, so that the two sides ride, respectively, against leftward thread and the other side rides rightward faces. Notice the analogy here with the radio dial example using split gears, where the split halves are pushed in opposing directions. Unlike in the radio dial example, the spring tension idea is not useful here, because machine tools taking a cut put too much force against the screw. Any spring light enough to allow slide movement at all would allow cutter chatter at best and slide movement at worst. These screw-adjusted split-nut-on-an-Acme-leadscrew designs cannot eliminate all backlash on a machine slide unless they are adjusted so tight that the travel starts to bind. Therefore, this idea can't totally obviate the always-approach-from-the-same-direction concept; nevertheless, backlash can be held to a small amount (1 or 2 thousandths of an inch or), which is more convenient, and in some non-precise work is enough to allow one to "ignore" the backlash, i.e., to design as if there were none.
CNCs can be programmed to use the always-approach-from-the-same-direction concept, but that is not the normal way they are used today[when?], because hydraulic anti-backlash split nuts, and newer forms of leadscrew than Acme/trapezoidal -- such as recirculating ball screws -- effectively eliminate the backlash.[citation needed] The axis can move in either direction without the go-past-and-come-back motion.
The simplest CNCs, such as microlathes or manual-to-CNC conversions, which use nut-and-Acme-screw drives can be programmed to correct for the total backlash on each axis, so that the machine's control system will automatically move the extra distance required to take up the slack when it changes directions. This programmatic "backlash compensation" is a cheap solution, but professional grade CNCs use the more expensive backlash-eliminating drives mentioned above. This allows them to do 3D contouring with a ball-nosed endmill, for example, where the endmill travels around in many directions with constant rigidity and without delays.[citation needed]
In mechanical computers a more complex solution is required, namely a frontlash gearbox.[4] This works by turning slightly faster when the direction is reversed to 'use up' the backlash slack.
Some motion controllers include backlash compensation. Compensation may be achieved by simply adding extra compensating motion (as described earlier) or by sensing the load's position in a closed loop control scheme. The dynamic response of backlash itself, essentially a delay, makes the position loop less stable and thus more prone to oscillation.