This is my plan! I am not really interested in scraping anything, except for maybe adding some scrapes to the vertical ways for oil adhesion as per Dabbler's comment above, but I think that will be a later problem.
I think the x-axis at the dial had about 0.020" of backlash, I did not note the y-axis before disassembly. I removed the lead screws and they appear visually consistent throughout the screw, but I dont know how visually obvious it is if a screw is worn out. Fortunately the mill came with a DRO for X and Y so I am to believe backlash shouldn't be a huge issue? I understand the bridgeport machines use split nuts for backlash adjustment. Assuming the leadscrews were in good shape, what would be an acceptable amount of backlash?
The typical check marks that are put on the ways to hold oil are called "Flaking".
20 thou of backlash would not upset me one iota. Ya, everyone wants less, but machines wear if you use them. So if you don't want backlash to creep in, don't use your machine. 100 thou would bother me a lot. 50 thou would bother some users, but those with good skills would prolly be happy. Some Bridgeports have adjustable leade nuts, some don't. You can tell looking at them. Post a photo if you want help deciding. But keep in mind that a tight nut prolly won't work at the ends of your travel. You have to find the right balance.
If you cannot easily see that the threads are thicker at the ends than in the middle, the screws are not worn enough to worry about. Again, post a photo. Or use a Caliper to measure them at some common point on the thread profile.
If you have a DRO, you don't need to worry about where you are, but you still need to learn to accommodate whatever backlash is there when you are machining. It is easy to break an endmill when the machine decides to take up the backlash on its own. Ask me how I know. It's a very bad experience that can easily destroy an endmill and ruin a part. The bigger the machine, the worse the experience. So ya, learn all you can about climb VS conventional milling and locking the Gibbs on the opposite axis from the one you are using. These are important fundamental pieces of knowledge.
So far I think you have a great machine that you will LOVE using!
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