This section should have been described before the fitting of the apron slide!

I have trial fitted the traverse screw and nut together with the gear and bearings. The gear as below.

For some reason I forgot to photograph the completed gear and bearings. To fit you must fit the bearings into the gap before you try and fit the gear. This is because the casting has two shallow recesses and the whole assembly of bearing and gear is too tight to fit in one go. Once pushed together in the recess, they will stay in place whilst the screw is fitted to the apron. I’m still a little concerned about the play between the slot in the screw and the key which fits in the gear above. (you can just see the round fitting pin for the gear at the right hand end of the gear)

All that was now needed was to bolt up the rapid traverse unit – nothing tricky here, it just gets a little heavy when trying to line up all of the holes for the bolts. I quickly fitted the handles to make sure everything was working OK – and it was!

I have decided to carry on with the rebuild and I will worry about any wear to the traverse screw and nut later. (and there is a fair amount of wear since cleaning every thing thoroughly) It is not difficult to remove these items to replace them – on the assumption you can even get them!!

It is now starting to look like a complete F3!!