Types of Lathe

Speed Lathe

• Wood working lathe

• Spinning lathe
• Centering lathe
• Polishing lathe
Speed lathe consists of a bed , head stock a tail stock and adjustable tool post. As the
speed of the spindle is very high its is called a speed lathe.

Used for Wood turning, Poloshing, Metal spinning

Speed Lathe

Wood Working Lathe

Types of Lathe
Engine Lathe

• Belt driven
• Gear head drive
• Individual motor drive
It is the most important and widely used type. In early days it was driven by Steam
engine, so called as Engine lathe.
It is also called as center lathe
It consists of bed, head stock, feed shaft and lead screw mechanism and carriage

Bench Lathe
It is a small type of lathe which can be mounted on a work bench.
It is used for small and precision work

Provided with all parts and mechanism as in engine lathe.

Tool Room Lathe

• It is nothing but an engine lathe built with more accuracy and more attachments.

• This is designed for more accurate and precision type of work

• It has more range of speeds and feeds

• Cost is more

• Used for making tools, test gauges, Dies and other precision parts.
Semi Automatic Lathes
In this type of machine, some operations are performed manually and some by automatic
means.

They are used in mass production.

Capstan and turret lathes are examples of semi automatic lathes.

In these types of lathes different types of operation can be performed without the tool
resetting.
Special purpose lathes
These are specially designed for specific operations only.

They are meant for jobs which cannot be machined in a conventional lathe.

Eg: Crank Shaft lathe, Wheel lathe for locomotive wheels etc
Lathe specifications

• Distance between centers

• Length of Bed
• Height of centers
• Maximum diameter
• Swing over the cross slide
• Horse power of the motor
• Number of speeds Major Components of a Lathe
•
• The six(6) major components of an engine lathe are:
• Bed
• Headstock
• Tailstock
• Carriage
 • Feed mechanism
• Thread cutting mechanism

Bed
 The foundation of a lathe is the bed. The bed is provides the basic lathe rigidity
and is the primary source to the alignment of the other major components of the
lathe.

Bed (cont.)
 The bed provides tracks (called "ways") on which the saddle of the carriage.
Generally there are two (2) "V"-ways on the outer edges of the bed and a "Flat"-
way in the center of the bed. The "V"-ways at as tracks for the lathe carriage and
the "Flat"-way is a seat for the headstock and tailstock.
Headstock
 The headstock is permanently mounted to the bed of the lathe. It contains or has
attached directly to it the components which rotate the work piece.
Tailstock
 The tailstock is an assembly of components that is mounted to the lathe bed. The
tailstock mounting differs from the headstock mounting, in that, the tailstock is
free to move along the "V"-ways of the bed.
 The primary function of the tailstock is to

provide support for the tailstock spindle. This spindle is used for a variety of
purposes including acting as a axial point of rotation for the work piece and
Holding tools such as drills and reamers.
Carriage
 The Carriage assembly is the work horse of the lathe. It is composed of:

 A Saddle, which is an "H" shaped casting machined to fit the "V"-ways of

the bed.
  A Cross slide, which can be moved in a perpendicular to the longitudinal
axis of the spindle (into the work piece).

 A Compound rest is mounted to the cross slide. The compound rest

support the cutting tool and provides adjustment for the tool into a variety
of positions.
 Feed Mechanism The feed mechanism allows carriage to move along a line
parallel to the longitudinal axis of the spindle. The movement allows the tool
on the carriage to pass long the work piece.
 The primary components of the Feed mechanism are the lead screw and the gear
box. The lead screw (some lathes have two- one for turning and one for
threading) is a rod with threads that when engaged move the carriage. The gear
box controls the rate at which the carriage moves.

Thread Cutting Mechanism

 The thread cutting mechanism shares components with the Feed mechanism. An
index plate allows the lathe operator to the different Feed rates and then number
of threads cut per inch.
Lathe Gages
 There may be as many as four gages on an engine lathe.
 Saddle Movement Gage
 Cross Slide Movement Gage
Saddle Movement Gage
 This gage is often not present on older lathes.
 The saddle movement gage measures the movement of the carriage and
saddle from left to right as you are facing the lathe in the operators
position.
Cross Slide Movement Gage:
 The cross slide movement gage measures the movement of the cross slide
in and out as you are facing the lathe in the operators position.

 Compound Slide Angle Gage The compound slide angle gage

measures the angle between the movement of the compound slide and
the movement of the cross slide. The gage is composed of a tick mark
on the bottom of the movable portion of the compound slide and an
angle scale on the base of the compound slide. Note that the angle
gage does not measure the angle of the tool (unless the tool is zeroed)
but rather the angle of the slide's movement.

 The compound slide movement gage measures the lineal movement of the
compound slide.
Mounting the work piece
 The work piece may be mounted is either a
 chuck or
 between centers.
Chucking
 Chucking the work is done in either a three (3) or four (4) jaw chuck.

 The key for the chuck is usually square and may be found on the side of the
chuck.
3-Jaw Chuck
 The jaws of a 3-jaw chuck typical move together. Even though the jaws
move in a coordinated fashion to center the work piece it is always a good
idea to check to see is the part is running true after it has been installed.

4-jaw chucks
 4-jaw chucks usually have individual adjustments for each jaw and are
more difficult to use. 4-jaw chucks are used when the surface of the work
piece is to be turned is not concentric with the diameter used to mount the
part.