Lathe

Lathe is one of the most versatile and widely used machine tools all over the world. It is
commonly known as the mother of all other machine tool. It rotates the work-piece on its axis to
perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing,
turning, etc. with tools that are applied to the work-piece to create an object which has symmetry
about an axis of rotation. Although woodworking lathes originally were developed during the
period from 1000 to 1 B.C., metalworking lathes, with lead screws, were not built until the late
1700s. The most common lathe originally was called an engine lathe, because it was powered
with overhead pulleys and belts from a nearby engine on the factory floor. Lathes became
equipped with individual electric motors starting in the late 19th century.

Types of lathes

Lathes are manufactured in a variety of types and sizes, from very small bench lathes used for
precision work to huge lathes used for turning large steel shafts. But the principle of operation
and function of all types of lathes is same. The different types of lathes are:

1. Speed lathe

(a) Wood working

(b) Spinning
(c) Centering
(d) Polishing

2. Centre or engine lathe

(a) Belt drive

(b) Individual motor drive
(c) Gear head lathe

3. Bench lathe

4. Tool room Lathe

5. Capstan and Turret lathe

6. Special purpose lathe

 (a) Wheel lathe
(b) Gap bed lathe
(c) Duplicating lathe
(d) T-lathe

7. Automatic lathe

Speed Lathe: Speed lathe is simplest of all types of lathes in construction and operation. The
important parts of speed lathe are following-
(1) Bed
(2) Headstock
(3) Tailstock, and
(4) Tool post mounted on an adjustable slide.
It has no feed box, 1eadscrew or conventional type of carriage. The tool is mounted on the
adjustable slide and is fed into the work by hand contro1. The speed lathe finds applications
where cutting force is least such as in wood working, spinning, centering, polishing, winding,
buffing etc. This lathe has been so named because of the very high speed of the headstock
spindle.

Centre Lathe or Engine Lathe: The centre lathe is so called because the work-piece can be
held between two centres – one in the headstock and other in the tailstock. The term “engine” is
associated with this lathe due to the fact that in the very early days of its development it was
driven by steam engine. This is the most widely used type of lathe. Similar to the speed lathe, the
engine lathe has all the basic parts, e.g., bed, headstock, and tailstock. But its headstock is much
more robust in construction and contains additional mechanism for driving the lathe spindle at
multiple speeds. Unlike the speed lathe, the engine lathe can feed the cutting tool both in cross
and longitudinal direction with reference to the lathe axis with the help of a carriage, feed rod
and lead screw. In centre lathes, power may be transmitted by means of belt, electric motor or
through gears.

Bench Lathe: This is a small lathe usually mounted on a bench. It has practically all the parts of
an engine lathe or speed lathe and it performs almost all the operations. This is used for small
and precision work.
Tool Room Lathe: This lathe has features similar to an engine lathe but it is much more
accurately built. It has a wide range of spindle speeds ranging from a very low to a quite high
speed up to 2500 rpm. This lathe is mainly used for precision work on tools, dies, gauges and in
machining work where accuracy is needed.

Capstan and Turret Lathe: The development of these 1athes results from the technological
advancement of the engine lathe and these are vastly used for mass production work. The
distinguishing feature of this type of lathe is that the tailstock of an engine lathe is replaced by a
hexagonal turret, on the face of which multiple tools may be fitted and fed into the work in
proper sequence. Due to this arrangement, several different types of operations can be done on a
job without re-setting of work or tools, and a number of identical parts can be produced in the
minimum time.

Special Purpose Lathes: These lathes are constructed for special purposes and for jobs, which
cannot be accommodated or conveniently machined on a standard lathe. The wheel lathe is
made for finishing the journals and turning the tread on railroad car and locomotive wheels. The
gap bed lathe, in which a section of the bed adjacent to the headstock is removable, is used to
swing extra-large-diameter pieces. The T-lathe is used for machining of rotors for jet engines.
The bed of this lathe has T-shape. Duplicating lathe is one for duplicating the shape of a flat or
round template on to the job.

Automatic Lathes: These lathes are so designed that all the working and job handling
movements of the complete manufacturing process for a job are done automatically. These are
high speed, heavy duty, mass production lathes with complete automatic control.

Parts of Lathe

The major parts of lathe machine are:

1. Bed
2. Head stock
3. Tailstock
4. Carriage
5. Feed mechanism
6. Thread cutting mechanism
Different parts of engine lathe or central lathe
Bed

The bed of a lathe machine is the base on which all other parts of lathe are mounted. It is massive
and rigid single piece casting made to support other active parts of lathe. On left end of the bed,
headstock of lathe machine is located while on right side tailstock is located. The carriage of the
machine rests over the bed and slides on it. On the top of the bed there are two sets of guideways
– innerways and outerways. The innerways provide sliding surfaces for the tailstock and the
outerways for the carriage. The guideways of the lathe bed may be flat and inverted V shape.
The guideways are hardened and machined for wear resistance and good dimensional accuracy
during turning. Generally, cast iron alloyed with nickel and chromium material is used for
manufacturing of the lathe bed. In a gap-bed lathe, a section of the bed in front of the headstock
can be removed to accommodate larger diameter work-pieces.
Head Stock

The headstock is fixed to the bed and is equipped with motors, pulleys, and V-belts that supply
power to a spindle and at various rotational speeds, which can be set through manually controlled
selectors or by electrical controls. Most headstocks are equipped with a set of gears, and some
have various drives to provide a continuously variable range of speed to the spindle. Headstocks
have a hollow spindle on which work-holding devices (such as chucks and collets) are mounted,
and long bars or tubing can be fed through them for various turning operations. The accuracy of
the spindle is important for precision in turning, particularly in high-speed machining. Preloaded
tapered or ball bearings typically are used to rigidly support the spindle.

Tail Stock

A tailstock is provided at the right hand end of the bed. It can slide along the guide ways
provided on the bed and may be brought nearer to the headstock, if so desired. It can then be
clamped or fixed on the bed in that position. The tailstock has a spindle in the upper part of the
tailstock, the axis of which coincides with the axis of the headstock spindle, both being at the
same height above the bed. This spindle can be moved forwards or backwards by rotating a hand
wheel. The front portion of tailstock spindle carries a ‘dead’ or ‘live’ centre. Both live and dead
centres have 60° conical points to fit centre holes in the circular job, the other end tapering to
allow for good fitting into the spindles. Drills and reamers can be mounted on the tailstock quill
(a hollow cylindrical piece with a tapered hole) to drill axial holes in the work-piece.

Carriage

Carriage is mounted on the outer guide ways of lathe bed and it can slide along the length of the
machine bed from the tailstock end to the head stock end. This movement is controlled by
manually operating the hand traversing wheel. It can also be imparted this traversing motion at
different speeds automatically by engaging into the feed rod. Carriage comprises of important
parts such as apron, cross-slide, saddle, compound rest, and tool post. The cutting tool is
mounted on the tool post, usually with a compound rest that swivels for tool positioning and
adjustment. The cross-slide moves radially in and out, controlling the radial position of the
cutting tool in such operations as facing. The gears, clutches and other mechanism required for
giving movement to the carriage and cross slide etc. is hidden from view by means of an apron
(thin steel plate) screwed upon the front face of the carriage. Half hidden in the front are two
long shafts, (the screwed one is called the lead screw shaft/rod and the plain one is called feed
shaft/rod) extending from the headstock to the tailstock end. These two shafts can be engaged
one at a time to give longitudinal movement to the carriage. Lead screw is only used during the
screw cutting operation. Feed shaft is used in other operations like turning.
Feed Mechanism

Feed mechanism is the combination of different units through which motion of headstock spindle
is transmitted to the carriage of lathe machine. Following units play role in feed mechanism of a
lathe machine.

1. End of bed gearing

2. Feed gear box
3. Lead screw and feed rod
4. Apron mechanism

The gearing at the end of bed transmits the rotary motion of headstock spindle to the feed gear
box. Through the feed gear box the motion is further transmitted either to the feed shaft or lead
screw, depending on whether the lathe machine is being used for plain turning or screw cutting.

The feed gear box contains a number of different sizes of gears. The feed gear box provides a
means to alter the rate of feed, and the ratio between revolutions of the headstock spindle and the
movement of carriage for thread cutting by changing the speed of rotation of the feed rod or lead
screw.

The apron is fitted to the saddle. It contains gears and clutches to transmit motion from the feed
rod to the carriage, and the half nut which engages with the lead screw during cutting threads.

Lathe specification
A Lathe is generally specified by:
 • Swing- the largest work diameter that can be swung for the lathe bed.
• The distance between the headstock and tailstock center.
• Length of the bed.
• The pitch of the lead screw.
• Horsepower of the machine.
• Speed range and the number of speeds of HS spindle.
• The weight of the machine.
In order to specify a lathe completely, the following specifications as in the example below
should be included.
1. Swing over machine bed Min. 350mm
2. Swing over cross slide Min. 190mm
3. Distance between centers Din 806-MT3 750-800mm
4. Turning Length 700-750mm
5. Width of bed Mini.260mm
6. Work Spindle Spindle diameter in front bearing 60mm
7. Spindle Bore 35mm
8. Taper bore according to DIN 228(shortened) MT-5
9. Normal Chuck diameter 160mm
10. Max.diameter of face plate and clamping disk 315mm
11. Tool Slide Guide Length of carriage 350-365
12 Graduation of Longitudinal scale on apron box hand wheel 0.2m m
13 Cross-slide travel 175-190
14 Graduation of scale at cross slide spindle 0.025mm
15 Width of cross-slide 140mm
16 Compound slide travel Min. 100mm
17 Graduation of scale on compound slide spindle 0.05mm
18 Width of top slide Min 110mm
19 Tailstock with hand wheel Stroke of quill 100-120
20 Diameter of center sleeve 50mm
21 Taper socket DIN 228 MT3
22 Scale graduation on center sleeve 1mm
 23 Scale ring at tail stock spindle, scale graduation 0.05mm
24 Cross Travel += 10MM
25 Drive Number of speed ranges 2x8
26 Speed range A (50-350) rev/min 8 speeds
27 Speed range B (250-2000) Rev/min 8 speed
28 Thread pitches with standard change gear set BS threads 4-76 T.P.I
29 All standardized metric threads selectable except for 0.45 and 405mm 0.25-16mm
30 24 module pitches selectable except for 0.4 and 4.5mm 0.2-8mm
31 Lead Screw pitch 6mm
32 Coolant tank with complete pump capacity 10-14 Ltrs
33 Floor Space required Length x width x Height of machine max. 2000x1000x1400mm
Work spindle above floor 1000-1200mm
34 Sound pressure level according to DIN 45635-16 80db (m) max
35 Sound power level according to Din 45635-16 93 db (a) max

Lathe operations

The most common operations performed on a lathe are turning, facing, parting, grooving,
knurling, drilling, boring, taper turning and threading.

Turning: The main objective of turning is to reduce the work-piece diameter to the desired
dimension. There are two types of turning operations, rough and finish. Rough turning operation
aims to machine a piece to within a predefined thickness, by removing the maximum amount of
material in the shortest possible time, disregarding the accuracy and surface finish. Finish turning
produces a smooth surface finish and the work-piece with final accurate dimensions.

Different sections of the turned parts may have different outer dimensions. The transition
between the surfaces with two different diameters can have several topological features, namely
step, taper, chamfer, and contour. To produce these features, multiple passes at a small radial
depth of cut may be necessary. Using a cross-slide the cutting tool is adjusted for the desired
depth of cut. As the work-piece revolves the tool is fed against work-piece in a direction parallel
to the axis of the spindle. A right-hand tool travels towards the headstock and a left-hand tool
towards the tailstock.
Facing: It is to produce a flat surface normal to the rotational axis of the spindle. During facing
the carriage is locked to the lathe bed to prevent its movement. Using the cross-slide the tool is
fed at right angles to the axis of the work-piece.

Parting or cutting off: Parting or cutting–off is the operation of separating a piece of initial
work from the bar stock. This operation is performed with a parting tool. This also requires a
plunge cut. Gradually the diameter of work piece at the tool contact surface will reduce and will
become smaller and smaller as the tool is fed in. Ultimately as the tip of tool will reach the centre
line of job, the job will be parted in two pieces, the left hand piece will remain clamped in the
chuck, while the right hand piece of requisite length will separate out.

Grooving or necking: Grooving is a turning operation that creates a narrow cut, a "groove" in
the work-piece. The size of the cut depends on the width of a cutting tool. Multiple tool passes
are necessary to machine wider grooves.

Knurling: Knurling operation produces serrated patterns on the surface of a part. Knurling
increases the gripping friction and the visual outlook of the machined part. This machining
process utilizes a unique tool that consists of a single or multiple cylindrical wheels (knurls)
which can rotate inside the tool holders. The knurls contain teeth that are rolled against the
surface of the work-piece to form serrated patterns. The most common knurling pattern is a
diamond pattern.

Drilling: For drilling of a hole on the lathe machine, tailstock centre is removed and in the
tailstock spindle a drill is inserted. The tailstock is brought closer to the work piece, which is
held in the chuck and rotated. Now using the handwheel of the tailstock, the drill is advanced.
The advancing drill comes in contact with end face of the work piece and drills a hole through it.
After the hole has been drilled to required depth, the drill is withdrawn.

Boring: Boring means enlarging an existing hole. The diameter of the boring tool or boring bar
fitted with a tool bit has to be smaller than the hole in the work piece. The boring operation is
really an internal turning operation but not being able to see the actual cutting, makes the
operation tricky and delicate.
Taper turning: Taper turning refers to the production of a conical surface, on the work piece on
a lathe. Different methods of taper turning in a lathe machine are Form tool method, Compound
rest method, Taper attachment method, and Tailstock set over method

Chamfering: Chamfer turning creates angled transition of an otherwise square edge between
two surfaces with different turned diameters. Chamfer is provided for better look, to enable nut
to pass freely on threaded work piece, to remove burrs and protect the end of the work piece
from being damaged.

Profile or Form turning: Various forms like a specified radius, semicircular shape etc. can be
generated with a suitably shaped form tool and taking a plunge cut (i.e., only cross slide will be
used while carriage will remain locked in position). Form tools should have a short profile,
otherwise the work piece and the tool tend to vibrate and chatter.

Threading: Threading is an operation of cutting threads or helical grooves on the external

cylindrical surface of the job. In this process, the carriage is connected to the lead screw. The
pitch of threads to be cut equals (r. p.m. of lead screw / r. p. m. of work-piece) × Pitch of lead
screw. Thus there should be an arrangement to change the ratio of r. p.m. of work piece and the r.
p.m. of lead screw. This is done by a system of gears, which give the required ratio. Threads
have a standard profile. The cutting tool profile should match with this profile. Now the threads
can be cut in the usual manner by traversing the tool by engaging the clutch between carriage
and lead screw. Such screw cutting lathes are provided, with reversible motors. The r. p.m. of
spindle is kept very low for thread cutting.
Milling and grinding operations can be performed on a lathe with special attachments.

Lathe safety checklist

Before starting work, check

 The safety guards are in good working condition

 The machine is clean and well lubricated and the surrounding area tidy.
 Wear appropriate safety clothing and eye protection.

Each time before starting the machine, check

  The guards are in position
 The chuck key has been removed from the chuck
 The work-piece can rotate freely without hitting any part of the machine
 All loose tools have been removed from bedways, cross-slide, headstock etc.

General precautions

 Make sure that you understand all the controls of the machine before using it.
 Know where the emergency switches are and switch off immediately if anything goes
wrong.
 Never use your bare hands to remove swarf.
 Keep tool overhang to a minimum.
 Always check that the tool is set so that it does not foul the rotating chuck or carrier.
 Clamps, clamping bolts must be carefully set when using a faceplate so that they do not
foul the tool or the saddle.
 Stop the machine before changing speed.
 Avoid taking measurements with caliper, micrometer gauge etc. when the job is in
motion.
 For cleaning, oiling and setting, the machine should be stopped.
 Never attempt to change the direction of rotation of spindle while it is in motion.
 Do not use cracked or damaged cutting tools.
 It is preferable to keep a wooden cradle below chuck on bed guideways when
mounting/removing it.
 Never allow yourself to be distracted while operating the machine or walk away leaving
the machine running.