Lathe Machine

A lathe is a machine tool in which the work is held and rotated, while tool is fed against the work. Material removal shall be done by rotating job against the tool. Various operations can be performed in a lathe are Turning, Boring, Drilling, Thread cutting, Grooving, Reaming, Tapping, Face grooving, Trepanning and Parting. Almost all lathes have a bed, which is (almost always) a horizontal beam. There are turning lathes specialized for turning large bowls often have no bed or tail stock, merely a free-standing head stock and a cantilevered tool rest. In addition to the spindle and its bearings, the head stock often contains parts to convert the motor speed into various spindle speeds. Various types of speed-changing mechanism achieve this, from a cone pulley or step pulley, to a cone pulley with back gear (which is essentially a low range, similar in net effect to the two-speed rear of a truck), to an entire gear train similar to that of a manual-shift auto transmission. Some motors have electronic rheostat-type speed controls, which obviates gears. A workpiece may be bolted or screwed to a face plate, a large, flat disk that mounts to the spindle. In the alternative, face plate dogs may be used to secure the work to the face plate. A work piece may be mounted on a mandrel, or circular work clamped in a three- or four-jaw chuck. For irregular shaped work pieces it is usual to use a four jaw (independent moving jaws) chuck. These holding devices mount directly to the Lathe head stock spindle.