metal lathe or metalworking lathe is a large class of lathes designed for precisely machining

relatively hard materials. They were originally designed to machine metals; however, with the advent
of plastics and other materials, and with their inherent versatility, they are used in a wide range of
applications, and a broad range of materials. In machining jargon, where the larger context is already
understood, they are usually simply called lathes, or else referred to by more-specific subtype names
(toolroom lathe, turret lathe, etc.). These rigid machine tools remove material from a rotating
workpiece via the (typically linear) movements of various cutting tools, such as tool bits and drill bits.

[edit] Construction
The design of lathes can vary greatly depending on the intended application; however, basic features
are common to most types. These machines consist of (at the least) a headstock, bed, carriage, and
tailstock. Better machines are solidly constructed with broad bearing surfaces (slides or ways) for
stability, and manufactured with great precision. This helps ensure the components manufactured on
the machines can meet the required tolerances and repeatability.

[edit] Headstock

Headstock with legend, numbers and text within the description refer to those in the image
The headstock (H1) houses the main spindle (H4), speed change mechanism (H2,H3), and change
gears (H10). The headstock is required to be made as robust as possible due to the cutting forces
involved, which can distort a lightly built housing, and induce harmonic vibrations that will transfer
through to the workpiece, reducing the quality of the finished workpiece.
The main spindle is generally hollow to allow long bars to extend through to the work area. This
reduces preparation and waste of material. The spindle runs in precision bearings and is fitted with
some means of attaching workholding devices such as chucks or faceplates. This end of the spindle
usually also has an included taper, frequently a Morse taper, to allow the insertion of tapers and centers.
On older machines the spindle was directly driven by a flat belt pulley with lower speeds available by
manipulating the bull gear. Later machines use a gear box driven by a dedicated electric motor. A fully
geared head allows the operator to select speeds entirely through the gearbox.

[edit] Bed
The bed is a robust base that connects to the headstock and permits the carriage and tailstock to be
aligned parallel with the axis of the spindle. This is facilitated by hardened and ground ways which
restrain the carriage and tailstock in a set track. The carriage travels by means of a rack and pinion
system, leadscrew of accurate pitch, or feedscrew.
Types of beds include inverted "V" beds, flat beds, and combination "V" and flat beds. "V" and
combination beds are used for precision and light duty work, while flat beds are used for heavy duty
work.[citation needed]
When a lathe is installed, the first step is to level it, which refers to making sure the bed is not twisted
or bowed. There is no need to make the machine exactly horizontal, but it must be entirely untwisted to
achieve accurate cutting geometry. A precision level is a useful tool for identifying and removing any
twist. It is advisable also to use such a level along the bed to detect bending, in the case of a lathe with
more than four mounting points. In both instances the level is used as a comparator rather than an
absolute reference.

[edit] Feed and lead screws

The feedscrew (H8) is a long driveshaft that allows a series of gears to drive the carriage mechanisms.
These gears are located in the apron of the carriage. Both the feedscrew and leadscrew (H7) are driven
by either the change gears (on the quadrant) or an intermediate gearbox known as a quick change
gearbox (H6) or Norton gearbox. These intermediate gears allow the correct ratio and direction to be
set for cutting threads or worm gears. Tumbler gears (operated by H5) are provided between the
spindle and gear train along with a quadrant plate that enables a gear train of the correct ratio and
direction to be introduced. This provides a constant relationship between the number of turns the
spindle makes, to the number of turns the leadscrew makes. This ratio allows screwthreads to be cut on
the workpiece without the aid of a die.
Some lathes have only one leadscrew that serves all carriage-moving purposes. For screw cutting, a
half nut is engaged to be driven by the leadscrew's thread; and for general power feed, a key engages
with a keyway cut into the leadscrew to drive a pinion along a rack that is mounted along the lathe bed.
The leadscrew will be manufactured to either imperial or metric standards and will require a conversion
ratio to be introduced to create thread forms from a different family. To accurately convert from one
thread form to the other requires a 127-tooth gear, or on lathes not large enough to mount one, an
approximation may be used. Multiples of 3 and 7 giving a ratio of 63:1 can be used to cut fairly loose
threads. This conversion ratio is often built into the quick change gearboxes.
The precise ratio required to convert a lathe with an Imperial (inch) leadscrew to metric (millimeter)
threading is 100 / 127 = 0.7874... . The best approximation with the fewest total teeth is very often 37 /
47 = 0.7872... . This transposition gives a constant -0.020 percent error over all customary and model-
maker's metric pitches (0.25, 0.30, 0.35, 0.40, 0.45, 0.50, 0.60, 0.70, 0.75, 0.80, 1.00, 1.25, 1.50, 1.75,
2.00, 2.50, 3.00, 3.50, 4.00, 4.50, 5.00, 5.50 and 6.00mm).

[edit] Carriage
Carriage with legend, numbers and text within the description refer to those in the image
In its simplest form the carriage holds the tool bit and moves it longitudinally (turning) or
perpendicularly (facing) under the control of the operator. The operator moves the carriage manually
via the handwheel (5a) or automatically by engaging the feed shaft with the carriage feed mechanism
(5c). This provides some relief for the operator as the movement of the carriage becomes power
assisted. The handwheels (2a, 3b, 5a) on the carriage and its related slides are usually calibrated, both
for ease of use and to assist in making reproducible cuts. The carriage typically comprises a top casting,
known as the saddle (4), and a side casting, known as the apron (5).

[edit] Cross-slide
The cross-slide (3) rides on the carriage and has a feedscrew that travels perpendicular to the main
spindle axis. This permits facing operations to be performed, and the depth of cut to be adjusted. This
feedscrew can be engaged, through a gear train, to the feed shaft (mentioned previously) to provide
automated 'power feed' movement to the cross-slide. On most lathes, only one direction can be engaged
at a time as an interlock mechanism will shut out the second gear train.

[edit] Compound rest

The compound rest (or top slide) (2) is usually where the tool post is mounted. It provides a smaller
amount of movement (less than the cross-slide) along its axis via another feedscrew. The compound
rest axis can be adjusted independently of the carriage or cross-slide. It is used for turning tapers, to
control depth of cut when screwcutting or precision facing, or to obtain finer feeds (under manual
control) than the feed shaft permits. Usually, the compound rest has a protractor marked in its base
(2b), enabling the operator to adjust its axis to precise angles.
The slide rest can be traced to the fifteenth century. In 1718 the tool-supporting slide rest with a set of
gears was introduced by a Russian inventor Andrey Nartov and had limited usage in the Russian
industry.[1] In the eighteenth century the slide rest was also used on French ornamental turning lathes.
The suite of gun boring mills at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, in the 1780s by the Verbruggan family
also had slide rests. The story has long circulated that Henry Maudslay invented it, but he did not (and
never claimed so). The legend that Maudslay invented the slide rest originated with James Nasmyth,
who wrote ambiguously about it in his Remarks on the Introduction of the Slide Principle, 1841; later
writers misunderstood, and propagated the error. However, Maudslay did help to disseminate the idea
widely. It is highly probable that he saw it when he was working at the Arsenal as a boy. In 1794,
whilst he was working for Joseph Bramah, he made one, and when he had his own workshop used it
extensively in the lathes he made and sold there. Coupled with the network of engineers he trained, this
ensured the slide rest became widely known and copied by other lathe makers, and so diffused
throughout British engineering workshops. A practical and versatile screw-cutting lathe incorporating
the trio of leadscrew, change gears, and slide rest was Maudslay's most important achievement.
The first fully documented, all-metal slide rest lathe was invented by Jacques de Vaucanson around
1751. It was described in the Encyclopédie a long time before Maudslay invented and perfected his
version. It is likely that Maudslay was not aware of Vaucanson's work, since his first versions of the
slide rest had many errors that were not present in the Vaucanson lathe.

[edit] Toolpost
The tool bit is mounted in the toolpost (1) which may be of the American lantern style, traditional
four-sided square style, or a quick-change style such as the multifix arrangement pictured. The
advantage of a quick change set-up is to allow an unlimited number of tools to be used (up to the
number of holders available) rather than being limited to one tool with the lantern style, or to four tools
with the four-sided type. Interchangeable tool holders allow all tools to be preset to a center height that
does not change, even if the holder is removed from the machine.

[edit] Tailstock
Tailstock with legend, numbers and text within the description refer to those in the image
The tailstock is a toolholder directly mounted on the spindle axis, opposite the headstock. The spindle
(T5) does not rotate but does travel longitudinally under the action of a leadscrew and handwheel (T1).
The spindle includes a taper to hold drill bits, centers and other tooling. The tailstock can be positioned
along the bed and clamped (T6) in position as required. There is also provision to offset the tailstock
(T4) from the spindles axis, this is useful for turning small tapers.
The image shows a reduction gear box (T2) between the handwheel and spindle, this is a feature found
only in the larger center lathes, where large drills may necessitate the extra leverage.

[edit] Types of metal lathes

There are many variants of lathes within the metalworking field. Some variations are not all that
obvious, and others are more a niche area. For example, a centering lathe is a dual head machine
where the work remains fixed and the heads move towards the workpiece and machine a center drill
hole into each end. The resulting workpiece may then be used "between centers" in another operation.
The usage of the term metal lathe may also be considered somewhat outdated these days, plastics and
other composite materials are in wide use and with appropriate modifications, the same principles and
techniques may be applied to their machining as that used for metal.

[edit] Center lathe / engine lathe / bench lathe

Two-speed back gears in a cone-head lathe.
A typical center lathe.
The terms center lathe, engine lathe, and bench lathe all refer to a basic type of lathe that may be
considered the archetypical class of metalworking lathe most often used by the general machinist or
machining hobbyist. The name bench lathe implies a version of this class small enough to be mounted
on a workbench (but still full-featured, and larger than mini-lathes or micro-lathes). The construction of
a center lathe is detailed above, but depending on the year of manufacture, size, price range, or desired
features, even these lathes can vary widely between models.
Engine lathe is the name applied to a traditional late-19th-century or 20th-century lathe with automatic
feed to the cutting tool, as opposed to early lathes which were used with hand-held tools, or lathes with
manual feed only. The usage of "engine" here is in the mechanical-device sense, not the prime-mover
sense, as in the steam engines which were the standard industrial power source for many years. The
works would have one large steam engine which would provide power to all the machines via a line
shaft system of belts. Therefore early engine lathes were generally 'cone heads', in that the spindle
usually had attached to it a multi-step pulley called a cone pulley designed to accept a flat belt.
Different spindle speeds could be obtained by moving the flat belt to different steps on the cone pulley.
Cone-head lathes usually had a countershaft (layshaft) on the back side of the cone which could be
engaged to provide a lower set of speeds than was obtainable by direct belt drive. These gears were
called back gears. Larger lathes sometimes had two-speed back gears which could be shifted to provide
a still lower set of speeds.
When electric motors started to become common in the early 20th century, many cone-head lathes were
converted to electric power. At the same time the state of the art in gear and bearing practice was
advancing to the point that manufacturers began to make fully geared headstocks, using gearboxes
analogous to automobile transmissions to obtain various spindle speeds and feed rates while
transmitting the higher amounts of power needed to take full advantage of high speed steel tools.
The inexpensive availability of electronics has again changed the way speed control may be applied by
allowing continuously variable motor speed from the maximum down to almost zero RPM. (This had
been tried in the late 19th century but was not found satisfactory at the time. Subsequent improvements
have made it viable again.)

[edit] Toolroom lathe

A toolroom lathe is a lathe optimized for toolroom work. It is essentially just a top-of-the-line center
lathe, with all of the best optional features that may be omitted from less expensive models, such as a
collet closer, taper attachment, and others. There has also been an implication over the years of
selective assembly and extra fitting, with every care taken in the building of a toolroom model to make
it the smoothest-running, most-accurate version of the machine that can be built. However, within one
brand, the quality difference between a regular model and its corresponding toolroom model depends
on the builder and in some cases has been partly marketing psychology. For name-brand machine tool
builders who made only high-quality tools, there wasn't necessarily any lack of quality in the base-
model product for the "luxury model" to improve upon. In other cases, especially when comparing
different brands, the quality differential between (1) an entry-level center lathe built to compete on
price, and (2) a toolroom lathe meant to compete only on quality and not on price, can be objectively
demonstrated by measuring TIR, vibration, etc. In any case, because of their fully-ticked-off option list
and (real or implied) higher quality, toolroom lathes are more expensive than entry-level center lathes.

[edit] Turret lathe and capstan lathe

Main article: Turret lathe
Turret lathes and capstan lathes are members of a class of lathes that are used for repetitive production
of duplicate parts (which by the nature of their cutting process are usually interchangeable). It evolved
from earlier lathes with the addition of the turret, which is an indexable toolholder that allows multiple
cutting operations to be performed, each with a different cutting tool, in easy, rapid succession, with no
need for the operator to perform setup tasks in between (such as installing or uninstalling tools) nor to
control the toolpath. (The latter is due to the toolpath's being controlled by the machine, either in jig-
like fashion [via the mechanical limits placed on it by the turret's slide and stops] or via IT-directed
servomechanisms [on computer numerical controlled (CNC) lathes].)
There is a tremendous variety of turret lathe and capstan lathe designs, reflecting the variety of work
that they do.

[edit] Gang-tool lathe

A gang-tool lathe is one that has a row of tools set up on its cross-slide, which is long and flat and is
similar to a milling machine table. The idea is essentially the same as with turret lathes: to set up
multiple tools and then easily index between them for each part-cutting cycle. Instead of being rotary
like a turret, the indexable tool group is linear.

[edit] Multispindle lathe

See also: screw machine
Multispindle lathes have more than one spindle and automated control (whether via cams or CNC).
They are production machines specializing in high-volume production. The smaller types are usually
called screw machines, while the larger variants are usually called automatic chucking machines,
automatic chuckers, or simply chuckers. Screw machines usually work from bar stock, while
chuckers automatically chuck up individual blanks from a magazine. Typical minimum profitable
production lot size on a screw machine is in the thousands of parts due to the large setup time. Once set
up, a screw machine can rapidly and efficiently produce thousands of parts on a continuous basis with
high accuracy, low cycle time, and very little human intervention. (The latter two points drive down the
unit cost per interchangeable part much lower than could be achieved without these machines.)
Rotary transfer machines might also be included under the category of multispindle lathes, although
they defy traditional classification. They are large, expensive, modular machine tools with many CNC
axes that combine the capabilities of lathes, milling machines, and pallet changers.

[edit] CNC lathe / CNC turning center

CNC lathe with milling capabilities
An example turned vase and view of the tool turret
CNC lathes are rapidly replacing the older production lathes (multispindle, etc.) due to their ease of
setting and operation. They are designed to use modern carbide tooling and fully use modern processes.
The part may be designed and the toolpaths programmed by the CAD/CAM process, and the resulting
file uploaded to the machine, and once set and trialled the machine will continue to turn out parts under
the occasional supervision of an operator.
The machine is controlled electronically via a computer menu style interface, the program may be
modified and displayed at the machine, along with a simulated view of the process. The setter/operator
needs a high level of skill to perform the process, however the knowledge base is broader compared to
the older production machines where intimate knowledge of each machine was considered essential.
These machines are often set and operated by the same person, where the operator will supervise a
small number of machines (cell).
The design of a CNC lathe has evolved yet again however the basic principles and parts are still
recognizable, the turret holds the tools and indexes them as needed. The machines are often totally
enclosed, due in large part to Occupational health and safety (OH&S) issues.
With the advent of cheap computers, free operating systems such as Linux, and open source CNC
software, the entry price of CNC machines has plummeted.[citation needed]

[edit] Swiss-style lathe / Swiss turning center

A view inside the enclosure of a CNC Swiss-style lathe/screw machine.
For work requiring extreme accuracy (sometimes holding tolerances as small as a few tenths of a
thousandth of an inch), a Swiss-style lathe is often used. A Swiss-style lathe holds the workpiece with
both a collet and a guide bushing. The collet sits behind the guide bushing, and the tools sit in front of
the guide bushing, holding stationary on the Z axis. To cut lengthwise along the part, the tools will
move in and the material itself will move back and forth along the Z axis. This allows all the work to be
done on the material near the guide bushing where it is more rigid, making them ideal for working on
slender workpieces as the part is held firmly with little chance of deflection or vibration occurring.
This style of lathe is also available with CNC controllers to further increase its versatility.
Most CNC Swiss-style lathes today use two spindles. The main spindle is used with the guide bushing
for the main machining operations. The secondary spindle is located behind the part, aligned on the Z
axis. In simple operation it picks up the part as it is cut off (aka parted off) and accepts it for second
operations, then ejects it into a bin, eliminating the need to have an operator manually change each part,
as is often the case with standard CNC turning centers. This makes them very efficient, as these
machines are capable of fast cycle times, producing simple parts in one cycle (i.e. no need for a second
machine to finish the part with second operations), in as little as 10–15 seconds. This makes them ideal
for large production runs of small-diameter parts.
Additionally, as many Swiss lathes incorporate a secondary spindle, or 'sub-spindle', they also
incorporate 'live tooling'. Live tools are rotary cutting tools that are powered by a small motor
independently of the spindle motor(s). Live tools increase the intricacy of components that can be
manufactured by the Swiss lathe. For instance, automatically producing a part with a hole drilled
perpendicular to the main axis (the axis of rotation of the spindles) is very economical with live tooling,
and similarly uneconomical if done as a 'secondary operation' after machining by the Swiss lathe is
complete. A 'Secondary operation' is a machining operation requiring a partially completed part to be
secured in a second machine to complete the manufacturing process. Generally, advanced CAD/CAM
software uses live tools in addition to the main spindles so that most parts that can be drawn by a CAD
system can actually be manufactured by the machines that the CAD/CAM software support.

[edit] Combination lathe / 3-in-1 machine

A combination lathe, often known as a 3-in-1 machine, introduces drilling or milling operations into
the design of the lathe. These machines have a milling column rising up above the lathe bed, and they
utilize the carriage and topslide as the X and Y axes for the milling column. The 3-in-1 name comes
from the idea of having a lathe, milling machine, and drill press all in one affordable machine tool.
These are exclusive to the hobbyist and MRO markets, as they inevitably involve compromises in size,
features, rigidity, and precision in order to remain affordable. Nevertheless, they meet the demand of
their niche quite well, and are capable of high accuracy given enough time and skill. They may be
found in smaller, non-machine-oriented businesses where the occasional small part must be machined,
especially where the exacting tolerances of expensive toolroom machines, besides being unaffordable,
would be overkill for the application anyway from an engineering perspective.

[edit] Mini-lathe and micro-lathe

Mini-lathes and micro-lathes are miniature versions of a general-purpose center lathe (engine lathe).
They typically have swings in the range of 3" to 7" (70 mm to 170 mm) diameter (in other words, 1.5"
to 3.5" (30 mm to 80 mm) radius). They are small and affordable lathes for the home workshop or
MRO shop. The same advantages and disadvantages apply to these machines as explained earlier
regarding 3-in-1 machines.
As found elsewhere in English-language orthography, there is variation in the styling of the prefixes in
these machines' names. They are alternately styled as mini lathe, minilathe, and mini-lathe and as
micro lathe, microlathe, and micro-lathe.

[edit] Wheel lathe

A lathe for turning the wheels of railway locomotives and rolling stock [2]

[edit] Brake lathe

A lathe specialized for the task of resurfacing brake drums and discs in automotive or truck garages.