Why Lathe Machines Are So Popular?
Workpiece shaping is aided by high-speed, precise lathe equipment. By using a variety of tools and attachments, the equipment may assist you in slicing, sanding, drilling, and forming diverse materials. Each part of the machine is made to serve as a part of the product and aid in performing delicate tasks that would otherwise take hours to complete by hand. If you work in production, you should be searching for a machine that can cut and give shape to the toughest materials. The best option is a high-speed precision lathe.
Industry verticals with high demand for high-speed precision lathe machines:
- Cutting and shaping of metals and wood
- Decorative Turing
- Paper and Steel Mills
- mining sector
- Textile Sector
Working Principle of Lathe Machine
1. Construction
The bed, headstock, quick-changing gear box, carriage, and tailstock are the lathe's principal components.
2. Bed
The working components of the lathe are mounted in the bed, which is a substantial, tough casting. It serves as a platform for the motion of the when included that carries the tool as well as carrying the headstock and tail stock for holding the material.
3. Legs
The device's legs are securely fastened to the floor by base bolts and support the entire weight of the device.
4. Headstock
The drive pulleys, rear wheels, headstock spindle, live center, and feed reverse gear are housed in the headstock, which is fixed to the left bed's right side. The headstock spindle is a cylindrically shaped shaft that connects the motor's output to the tools used to hold work.
5. Gearbox
Below the headstock is a quick-change gearbox with a variety of gears of various sizes.
6. Carriage
Between both the headstock and tailstock, the carriage supports, directs, and feeds the tool against the workpiece while it is being used. The carriage's primary components are:
- An H-shaped casting that is put on the top of the lathe shaft is the saddle. It supports the tool post, complex rest, and cross slide.
- The cross slide, which is fixed to the top of the saddle, gives the cutting tool a mounted or motorized cross movement.
- The tool base and the cutting tool are supported by the compound rest, which is attached to the top of the cross slide.
- The cutting tool or tool holder is rigidly clamped at the correct height about the work center line by the tool post, which is fixed on the compound rest.
- The gears, clutches, and levers necessary to move the carriage or cross slide are housed in the apron, which is attached to the saddle.
7. Tailstock
On the bottom of the bed, directly across from the headstock, is a mobile casting known as the tailstock. Different workpiece lengths between the centers can be handled by sliding the tailstock along the bed. There is a tailstock clamp available to lock the tailstock in any position you want. To hold the dead center and tools with tapered shanks, like reamers and drills, the tailstock spindle features an internal taper.
Types of Lathe Machine
1. CNC Lathe Machines
Computer Numeric Control, or CNC, in a lathe machine price, offers excellent accuracy in a short amount of time. They are constructed using the same parts as manual lathes, including the spindle, headstock, tailstock, tool turret, chuck, and centers.
Due to their greater accuracy and productivity, CNC lathes are the most widely utilized lathe machines. They are extremely sophisticated lathe models. Computer programming is used by CNC lathes to control their machinery.
2. Turret Lathe Machines
Capstan lathe machines are another name for turret lathes. These devices are employed for the mass production of replicated parts. The turret lathes may execute several tasks, including facing, turning, reaming, and boring. They have a hexagonal turret located on the saddle rather than the tailstock.
Using a single machine for several tasks can reduce errors and save time.
Turret lathes are frequently employed for large projects, and their main benefit is that even less experienced workers may handle them.
3. Engine Lathe Machines
Engine lathes are capable of turning, facing, threading, knurling, and grooving among other procedures. Bed, saddle, headstocks and tailstocks are only a few of the components of engine lathe machines. Engine lathe machines have movable tailstocks that are utilized for knurling activities whereas the headstock is fixed.
4. Speed Lathe Machines
The speed lathe is typically used for woodturning, spinning, and metal polishing. They are made out of high-speed spindles that are employed in the production of bowls, baseball bats, and various furniture components. The speed range for speed lathe machines is 1200 to 3600 revolutions per minute.
5. Tool Room Lathe Machines
When high precision is required, tool room lathe machines are used. The tool room lathes execute turning, grinding, drilling, boring, and reaming operations.
The gearbox is linked to the headstock, providing speed variations varying from low to high. They have a highly controlled environment at speeds of up to 2500 rpm.
6. Automatic Lathe Machines
With these lathe machines, work is automatically done. Because they can't be used for large production, standard lathes have a significant drawback compared to automatic lathe machines.
One of the main benefits of employing an automatic lathe is that one person may simultaneously operate 4 to 5 machines. Both heavy duty and high-speed machines, automatic lathes.
7. Special Purpose lathe machines
Special purpose lathes enable the execution of a variety of tasks that are otherwise impossible on ordinary or other lathes. The optimum use for special purpose lathe machines is for mass manufacture of similar parts. Types of special purpose lathe machines include vertical lathes, wheel lathes, t-lathes, tracer, multi-spindle lathes, or production lathes, duplicate lathes, etc.
Journals and rail rods are both machined on wheel lathes. Additionally, they are utilized to rotate the threads on locomotive wheels. The rotors of jet engines are machined on T-lathes.
Milling Machines Vs Lathe Machines
A lathe is a sizable device that resembles a standard workstation. It rotates a material against a single-bladed milling cutter and is made up of about a dozen various elements, including a bed, carriage, headstock, tailstock, and faceplate.
By running the product against a multi-bladed or pointed cutting tool, a milling machine removes the material from the workpiece. Because they are shorter in length and taller than lathes, milling machines can be installed in tight spaces by manufacturing enterprises.
Uses Of Lathe Machine
1. Forming
Forming is the process of creating a shape on a lathe using a special machine that has the needed component's reverse profile on its cutting edge. By plunging feeding, complex profiles are turned using form tools. Depending on their shape, forming tools may be flat or round.
Long-form machine profiles result in chattering and a subpar finish. Cuts must be made extremely lightly. Complex form tools are typically expensive and difficult to make. A single point can produce complex profiles more effectively than forming can.
2. Contour turning
The best contour turning technique is used when complex objects (like turbine blades) need to be manufactured. It begins by manually adding a pattern of the correct form on plaster, plastic, or another soft material.
Even though solely mechanical contraptions such as mechanical linkage, spring-loaded cam supporters, double track cams, and lever arms theoretically can produce the appropriate form, they are ineffective in practice for high production.
3. Cams Machining
Commonly, cams are produced on a 212-axis NC machining center. Either the follower's motion equation or the mathematical curves in the cam profile are used to produce the tool path.
The paraxial, linear, and circular shape machining can be done using the two-and-a-half-axis machining centers.
When calculating the cutter location data, the application considers the cutter diameter.
4. Ultra Precision Machining
Uses for ultra-precision machining can be found in the fabrication of precision parts for electronics, nuclear, defense, and computer skills.
Cryogenic diamond turning, in which the tool system is chilled by liquid nitrogen to a degree of -120A C, is used to reduce diamond wear.
The machine tools designed for these applications include extremely fast spindle speeds, rigid work-holding devices, and great levels of precision. These machines are constructed from dimensionally stable construction members with little thermal expansion.
5. Hard Turning
Machining steels with a hardness of 45 HRC or higher is known as hard machining. At the cutting spot, the material is plasticized or annealed using the heat produced during harsh machining. The heat is carried away from the weld point by the chips because of the high speed. In harsh machining, the tool merely skids over the work site.
Cutting rates range from 120 to 180 m/min when using ceramic and CBN tools for hard turning. Hard turning is a type of finishing. Hard turning allowance is roughly double that of grinding allowance. Nearly one-third of it may be finished cut after a rough cut of up to 0.4 mm. The feed rate might be 0.1 mm/rev or such.