LATHE MACHINE

INTRODUCTION
A lathe is the former of all machine tool. It is the most important machine used in work shop. Initially it
was used for wood turning. This device continued to develop through centuries and in the year 1797
Henry Maudslay. An Englishman designed the first screw cutting lathe which is the forerunner of the
present day high speed, heavy duty production lathe.
FUNCTIONS OF LATHE
The main function of a lathe is to remove metal from a piece of work to give it the required shape and
size. This is accomplished by holding the work securely and rigidly on the machine and than turning it
against cutting tool, which will remove, metal from the work in the from of chips. To cut the material
properly the tool should be harder than the material of the work piece.
CLASSIFICATION OF LATHE
Lathe can be classified as-
1. SPEED LATHE- It is the simplest from of lathe and consists of a simple headstock, a tailstock
and tool post. It has no gearbox, lead screw and carriage.
2. ENGINE LATHE- It is the most important machine tool in the lathe family. The stepped cone
pulley or geared head are often used for varying the speed of lathe spindle. Tailstock is providing
to facilitate holding the work between centers and permit use of tools like drills, taps, etc.
3. 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 operation. This is used for small
and precision work.
4. TOOL ROOM LATHE- It is the modern engine lathe, which is equipped with all necessary
accessories for accurate tool room work .it is a geared head driven machine with considerable
range in spindle speeds and feeds. This is used for production of small tools, dies, gauges, etc.
5. CAPSTAN LATHE- These are similar to turret lathe and incorporate slide which moves on an
auxiliary slide and can be clamped in any position .It is best suited for fast production of small
parts because of its weight and short stroke of capstan slide.
6. TURRET LATHE- It is a production machine used to perform a large number of operations
simultaneously. In it, several tools are set on a revolving turret to facilitate doing large number of
operations on a job with minimum wastage of time.
7. AUTOMATIC LATHE- These are high speed, heavy duty, mass production lathes with
completes automatic control. Once the tools are set and the machine is started it performs
automatically all the operations to finish the job .The changing of tools, speeds, and feeds are also
done automatically.
PRINCIPLE PARTS OF LATHE
1. Bed - It is supported on broad box-section columns and is made of cast iron. Its upper surface is
either scraped or ground and the guiding and sliding surface are provided. Three major units
mounted on bed are the headstock, and the carriage. Lathe is made of high-grade special cast iron
having high vibration damping qualities.
2. Head stock - It supports the main spindle in the bearings in the aligns it properly. It also house
necessary transmission mechanism with speed changing levers to obtain different speeds. Cone
pulley or gears or combination of both could be loosed to change speed of spindle.
Accessories mounted on head stock spindle-

• Three jaw chuck

• Four jaw chuck

• Lathe center and lathe dog

• Collect chuck

• Face plate

• Magnetic chuck

• CHUCKS - A chuck is one of the most important devices for holding and rotating a piece of
work in lathe.

Lathe Machine
3. Tailstock - It is movable casting located opposite the headstock on the ways of lathe bad.

• It is used for two purposes-

• To support the other end of the work –when being machine.

• To hold a tool performing of operations like drilling, reaming, tapping, etc. It contains the
dead center, the Adjusting screw and the hand wheel.
4. Carriage - It is located between the headstock and the tailstock. It is fitted on the bed and slides
along the bad guide ways and can be locked on the bed at any desired position by tightening the
carriage lock screw. It can be moved manually with a hand wheel or with power feed. It consist s
of following 5 main parts-

• Saddle - The saddle is an H-shaped casting that fits over the bed and slides along the ways. It
carries the cross slide and tool post.

• Cross slide - The cross slide comprises a casting, machined on the underside for attachment to the
saddle and carries locating on the upper face for the tool post or compound rest.

• Compound rest - The compound rest or compound slide is mounted on the top base of the cross-
slide and a circular base graduated in degrees. It is used for obtain angular cuts and short tapers as
well as convenient position of the tool to the work.

• Tool post - This is located on the top of the compound rest to hold the tool and to enable it to be
adjusted to a convenient working position. The type and mounting of the tool post depends upon
the class of work for which it is to be used.

• Apron - The apron is fastened to the saddle and hangs over the front of the bed. It contains gears,
clutches and leaver for operating the carriage by hand and power feeds.
5. Feed Mechanism- The Movement of the tool relative to work is termed as feed. A lathe tool may
have three types of feed-longitudinal, cross and angular. When the tool moves parallel to the lathe
axis, the movement is termed as longitudinal feed and is effected by the movement of the carriage.
When the tool moves at right angle to the lathe axis with the help of the cross slide the movement
is termed as cross feed, While the movement of tool by compound slide when it is swiveled at an
angle to the lathe axis is termed as angular feed. The feed mechanism has different units through
which motion is transmitted from the head stock spindle to the carriage. Following are the units-

• End of bed gearing- This gearing serves the purpose of transmitting the drive to the lead screw
and feed shaft, either direct or through a gearbox.

• Feed gearbox- The feed gear box or quick-change gearbox is fitted directly bellows the
headstock assembly. Power from the lathe spindle is transmitted through gears to the quick-
change gearbox.

• Feed rod- The feed rod is a long shaft that has keyway extending from the feed box across and in
front of the bed .The power is transmitted from the lathe spindle to the apron gears through a feed
rod via large number of gears.

• Lead screw- The lead screw is a long thread shaft used as a master screw, and is brought into
operation only when threads have to be cuts.

• Apron Mechanism- Different designs of apron mechanism for transforming rotary Motion of the
feed rod and lead screw into feed motion of the carriage constructed by different makes of the
lathe.
6. THREAD CUTTING MECHANISM- The rotation of the lead screw is used to transverse tool
along the work to produce screw thread. The half nut mechanism illustrated makes the carriage to
engage or disengage with the lead screw. It comprises a pair of half nuts cable of moving in or out
of mesh with the lead screw. The two halves of the nut are connected in the cam slots in a circular
disc by two pins. When the disc is rotated by a hand leaver attached to, it the points being guided
in the cam slots serve to open or close the spilt nuts and thus engage or disengage with the lead
screw. The half nut slide within the guide or frame. Closing the half nuts causes the carriage to
move a fixed distance for each revolution of the spindle.
7. Legs-It supports the body of the lathe machine.
 OPERATIONS PERFORMED ON LATHE

FACING- Facing is the operation of machining the end of a piece of work to produce a flat surface with
the axis. This is also used to cut the work to the required length.

Facing

PLAIN OR STRAIGHT TURNING- The work is turned straight when it is made to rotate about the
lathe axis and the tool is fed parallel to the lathe axis. The straight turning produces a cylindrical surface
by removing excess metal from the work piece.

Plain Turning
STEP TURNING-It is an operation of producing various steps of different diameters in the work piece.

Step turning

TAPER TURNING - Taper turning means to produce a conical surface by gradual reduction in diameter
from a cylindrical work piece.

Taper Turning

CHAMFERING- Chamfering is the operation of beveling the extreme end of the work piece this is done
to remove the burrs, to protect the end of the work pieces from being damaged and ton have a better
look.

Chamfering
KNURLING- Knurling is the operation of embossing a diamond shaped pattern on the surface of a work
piece.

Knurling

GROOVING- Grooving is the process of reducing the diameter of work piece over a very narrow
surface.

Grooving

DRILLING- Drilling is the operation of producing a cylindrical hole in a work piece by the rotating
cutting edge of a cutter known as the drill.

Drilling
REAMING- Reaming is the operation of finishing and sizing of a hole which has been previously drilled
or bored.

Reaming

BORING- Boring is the operation of enlarging and turning a hole produced by drilling, punching,
casting, or forging.

Boring

TAPPING- Tapping is the operation of cutting internal threads of small diameter using a multi point
cutting tool called the tap.
THREADING- Threading is the operation of producing threads on the outer surface of the cylindrical
work piece with the help of lead screw.

Threading
LATHE TOOLS
The tool used in a lathe, for general purpose work, is a single point tools, but for special operations multi
point tools may be used. The materials used for lathe tools should have hardness, toughness, heat
resistance and low wear. The commonly used for materials are high carbon steel, high speed steel,
cemented carbides, diamond tips and ceramics.
The lathe tools, depending upon the nature of operation done by the tools, are classified as follows:-

• Turning tool(left hand or right hand)

• Facing tool(left hand or right hand)
• Chamfering tool(left hand or right hand)
• Form or profile tool.
• Parting or necking tool
• External threading tool
• Internal threading tool
• Boring tool and
• Knurling tool.

Lathe tools
General Steps in Lathe
• Hold the job in a chuck.

• Drill center hole at the other end.

• Set the job between the chuck and lathe center by adjusting the sleeve of the tailstock.

• Select and set the proper tool in the tool post.

• Adjust the machine to run the job at required revolution and obtain the usual cutting speed for a
particular type of tool and work piece.

• Give the feed and depth of cut to the tool and perform the operation in a number of passes.

• Finishing cuts should be taken with a slightly increased and a fine feed tool.

SPECIFICATION OF LATHE MACHINE

• The height of the centers measured over the lathe bed.

• Swing or maximum diameter that can be rotated over the bed ways.

• Swings or diameter over carriage. This is the largest diameter of work that will revolve over the
lathe saddle.

• Maximum job length in mm that may be held between the center (headstock and tailstock center)

• Bed length in meters, which may include the head stock length also.

• Diameter of the hole through lathe spindle for turning bar material.