Lathe

MACHINE TOOLS

LATHE
A Lathe is a general purpose machine tool which holds the work piece in a work holding device
and rotating it against a suitable cutting tool to remove excess metal from the work piece. It employs
single point cutting tool for various type of operation. The tool should be harder than material of work
piece. Lathe is also known as mother of all machine tools.

FUNCTIONS OF LATHE
1. To remove excess material from the work piece.
2. To produce cylindrical work piece.
3. To carryout the operations such as drilling, boring, grinding, milling etc.

PARTS OF LATHE

Bed:
It is the foundation part of the lathe and supports all its other parts. Its top surface is
machined to provide guide ways for carriage.

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Lathe

Carriage:
It supports the tool. It is composed of 5 main parts saddle, compound rest, tool post and
apron.
Saddle is sliding along the guide ways to provide the movement of the tool in a direction parallel to
the direction of work piece axis.
Cross slide is placed above the saddle and can be moved by hand wheel or by power feed.
Compound rest is mounted on cross slide. It is used to move the tool at an angle to the lathe axis.
Tool post is mounted on top of compound rest. It is used to hold the tool using tool holder.
Apron is a part used to house the carriage through gears and clutches.

Head Stock:
It is located at the left side of the Lathe. It contains driving mechanism of the spindle. A
stepped cone pulley is used in head stock to accommodate different speeds. Also headstock is used to
support one end of the work piece.

Tail Stock:
It is located at the right side of the Lathe. It is mounted on the base with adjusting screws. The
important function of tail stock are to support the free end of the work piece also to hold cutting tools
for performing certain machining operations like drilling, boring etc.

Feed box:
It is fitted directly below the head stock. It contains a number of different types of gears to
change the speed.

Feed rod:
It is a long shaft which supports the movement of the carriage throughout the lathe length.

Lead Screw:
It is a long threaded shaft. It is used when threads have to be cut. It is used to move the
carriage during thread cutting operation.

Chuck:
It is the element to hold the work piece.

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Lathe

Lathe Specification

1. Overall length of bed

It is the total space occupied by the Lathe.
2. Maximum diameter of work piece
It is also known as swing of Lathe. Swing is specified at two positions
a. Maximum swing diameter over the carriage
It is the largest diameter of the work piece which revolves over the carriage.
b. Maximum swing over bed
It is the largest diameter of work piece revolving over the bed.
3. Distance between centers
It indicates the maximum length of work piece that can be mounted between the centers.

Lathe Operations

1. Facing

Facing is an operation of machining the ends of a work piece

to produce a flat surface square with the axis. It is also used to cut
the work to the required length. The operation involves feeding the
tool perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the work piece.
A properly ground facing tool is mounted in the tool post. A regular
turning tool may also be used for facing a large work piece. The
cutting edge should be set at the same height as the center of the
work piece.
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Lathe

2. Plain Turning

It is an operation of removing excess material from the surface of

the cylindrical work piece. In this operation the work is held either in the
chuck or between centers and the longitudinal feed is given to the tool
either by hand or power. This operation is done to reduce the diameter of
work piece.

3. Step Turning

In this type of operation various steps of different diameters in

the work piece are produced. It is carried out in the similar way as plain
turning.

4. Drilling

It is an operation of producing a cylindrical hole in a work

piece by rotating cutting edge of a cutter known as the drill. For this
operation the work is held in a suitable device and the drill is held in
the sleeve or barrel of the tailstock. The drill is fed by hand by rotating
the hand wheel of the tailstock.

5. Threading

Threading is an operation of cutting helical grooves on the

external cylindrical surface of the work piece. In this operation the
work is held in a chuck or between centers and the threading tool is
fed longitudinally to the revolving work. The longitudinal feed is equal in
the pitch of the thread to be cut.

6. Knurling

It is an operation of embossing a diamond shaped pattern on the

surface of a work piece. The purpose of knurling is to provide an
effective gripping surface on a work piece to prevent it from slipping
when operated by hand.

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Lathe

The operation is performed by a special knurling tool which consists of one set of hardened steel
rollers in a holder with the teeth cut on their surface in a definite pattern. The tool is held rigidly on
the tool post and the rollers are pressed against the revolving work piece to squeeze the metal against
the multiple cutting edges, producing depressions in a regular pattern on the surface of the work
piece.

7. Taper Turning

A taper may be defined as an uniform increase or decrease in diameter of a piece of work

measured along its length.

Taper angle is given by

Dd
Tan = 2L

A = tan-1 [D2L d ]
Where D Large diameter of taper
d Small diameter of taper
L Length of tapered part
Half of taper angle

By setting over the tailstock center

This method is used for small taper only.
It is based upon the principle of shifting the axis
of rotation of the work piece at an angle to the
axis and feeding the tool parallel to the lathe
axis. The angle at which the axis rotation of
work piece is shifted is equal to half angle of
taper. This is done when the body of the
tailstock is made to slide on its base towards or
away from the operator by a set over screw.

By swiveling the compound rest

It is the best method as it doesnt affect
the centering of the job. In this method of taper
turning the work piece is rotated on the lathe
axis and the tool is fed at an angle to the axis of
rotation of the work piece. The tool mounted

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Lathe

on the compound rest is attached to the circular base, graduated in degrees which may be swiveled
and clamped at an desired angle.

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