This part of the project originally began as a bearing support modification to the crossfeed leadscrew. I was never happy with that part of the design. It had a bronze bushing in the back end and a single ball bearing in the front end. For a manual screw it would have probably worked fine, but it always nagged at me. I had thought about several different schemes for mounting double bearings at the front end to take out any backlash there. One day I decided to just do it.

I turned off most of the pocket for the front bearing.

Then I cut another piece of aluminum and cut the remainder of the back bearing pocket in it. Then I flipped it around and cut the front bearing pocket in the opposite side. So the back bearing aligns the front part of the bracket with the rest of the body and together they support the screw radially and act as angular contact bearings.

Once I figured out the manual bearing support setup for the crossfeed, the CNC drive was easy. I took a piece of 3/4"x4 aluminum bar and figured out the center for a 60T .2 pitch belt gear. Next I figured out the center location for a M23 Stepper motor.

Then I machined front and rear bearing pockets to match the bearing pockets on the manual bearing support.

Because the stepper shaft was too short to go clear through the 3/4" material and support a belt gear on the other side, I milled a pocket on the reverse side to set the M23 stepper part way through the plate.

The bearing protrudes slightly from the Bearing support body and into the motor plate. This serves to align both pieces.

The motor sitting down into the pocket allows sufficient shaft to mount the belt gear. I bored the hole for the belt gear and mount it before mounting the motor to the plate.

This setup allows the stepper to be mounted closer in to the carriage and clear the original screw cut indicator.

Next I have to install the leadscrew. Here is the nut for the lead screw.

When I put the stepper plate on the crossfeed, the belt was loose on the pulleys. I had not designed in any adjustment, but I had thought about the solution. I had a little adjuster that I got off of another stepper I bought on ebay. So, I machined a pocket for it to sit in and voila "instant adjustment".