My take on lathe conversion

I have thought about Lathe conversion for my 12" atlas and have
decided to leave the acme lead screw in place and replace the half nut
with a machined anti backlash acme nut. There are several ways to do
preload/backlash compensation with acme screws that will be adequate for
my needs. I also am of the opinion that the carriage really doesnt need
backlash compensation any way. 95% of the time I am cutting towards the
headstock, and reversing the direction of the carriage under load is
just not that common.
The cross slid is another story and that will be a small 1/4 or 3/8"
or ball. Very cheap and not too difficult to replace.
The compound rest is removed and placed on a shelf.
Here's the real gem though. The large spindle back gear is replaced
with a timing belt drive so that the spindle becomes the third axis for
thread cutting and for two axis milling. I have used a small router on
my lathe for several jobs machining aluminum. The spindle pulley can
also be disengaged to run at full speed with the original v pulley/motor
setup.
My advice don't cut up your carriage, it's not necessary. Normal
lathes only power feed one direction at a time anyway. And for home
applications you can always back up and cut one direction only.
Save a couple hundred bucks on a 4 foot ball screw also.
My 2 cents.