1-0.Introduction to the Lathe Machine.

Lathe Machine mother of all machine tools It is recorded in the early history of many races as an innovated device for wood turning. The development of the lathe as is known today was accredited to Henry Maudeley who designed and realized the sliding carriage and added a screw cutting mechanism sometime in 1880.

 It

holds the material being turned between two supports called centres or by other means such as a chuck or a faceplate, otherwise attached to the nose or end of the spindle with bolts and nuts or other securing devices.

A lathe of 1871, equipped with leadscrew, slide rest, and change gears for singlepoint screw-cutting. By this time, it had long been universal practice among machine tool builders to build these machine elements into most bench lathes or engine lathes.

Working principle of lathe

The

work piece is held in a chuck or between centres and rotated about its axis at a uniform speed. The cutting tool is held in the tool post is fed into a work piece for a desired depth and in the desired direction. Material is removed in form of chips and the desired shape is obtained.

1-1.Size of Lathe Machine

The size of a lathe is specified according to: Height of centres above the bed and the length of the bed. In this category, a 12 in. by 12 ft. lathe would have a bed of 12 ft. long and spindle centre of 12 in. above the bed. This will accommodate a 24 in. diameter of work over the bed. The swing of the lathe and the distance between its centres. Here, a 250 mm X 2000 mm lathe is expected to accommodate a workpieces 500 mm in diameter and 2000 mm long.

1-2.The Bed
The

bed of the lathe forms the structure of its body and is supported at conviently calculated heights with lags. It is made of cast iron with box-like cross section to give the necessary rigidity and stiffness besides being stabilized to resist twisting and other deformities due to stress and strain.

 The

bed is also hardened and commonly scraped to provide bearing surface for smooth sliding action. bed is a robust base that connects to the headstock and permits the carriage and tailstock to be moved parallel with the axis of the spindle.

The

1-3.The Headstock
The

headstock is always located at the left-hand of the bed opposite the tailstock. It housed the driving mechanisms and the spindle.

The headstock (H1) houses the main spindle (H4), speed change mechanism(H2,H3), and change gears (H10).

1-4.The Tailstock
The

tailstock is situated opposite the headstock. It could be moved sliding along the bed and carries its own tapered nose spindle internally to accommodate the following: The right-hand centre (dead centre) for supporting one end of the work during between centre turning operating. Accommodating and feeding twist drills, reamers, drill chucks, and other devices.

spindle (T5) handwheel (T1) clamped (T6) reduction gear box (T2)

1-5.The Apron and Carriage Assembly

The

carriage travel the tool longitudinally along the length of the bed across the axis of the lathe sliding through the cross slide either by hand or automatic feeding.

 The

apron is attached to the underside of the saddle. It houses the apron drive to transform the rotary movement of the feed mechanism into the longitudinal motion of the tool carriage and the transverse motion of the cross-slide.

1-6.The Feed Train

The

feed train transmits the cutting motion by the arrangement of gears to the feed mechanism through the lead screw and the feed rod.

1-7.The Compound Slide

The

compound slide in most lathes is placed on the cross-slide. A Compound Slide is used to cut angles or tapers that cannot be cut by "swinging the headstock".

1-8.The Lathe Centres

The

point of these centres are commonly made to an angle of 60 deg. with the shank machined to Morse or Metric taper. The centre fitted to the headstock spindle and rotates with the work is often called the live center. Opposing it is the tailstock centre called the dead centre which is stationary although later designs have points also rotating with the work.

LIVE CENTER

LIVE AND DEAD CENTRES

1-9.Common Work Holding Devices

The

three-jaw chuck or universal chuck This type of lathe work holding device is limited to accommodating round, triangular and hexagonal workpieces. It is provided with three simultaneously moving jaws actuated by a transverse thread in the form of a spiral.

 The

four-jaw chuck or independent chuck This type of chuck has four opposing jaws each independently moved by individual screws.

 The

collect chuck Small cylindrical workpieces are commonly and easily held by collect chucks although square, hexagonal or triangular shapes could also be adopted according to the shape of the hole provided the chuck. Collect chucks come in sets as the work holding inside diameter has limited range according to the diameter of the work it can hold.

 The

mandrels These devices are used when bored holes and outer cylindrical surface of workpieces have to be accurately centered and replaced easily when doing a number of identical work. Two typical examples of mandrels in common usage are first, the fixed mandrel and second, is the expansion mandrel.

 This

expanding mandrel is designed to locate and hold thin-walled parts on the ID to avoid distortion during precision machining. It can also be used to hold heavy parts with large bores for heavy machining operations.

 The

face plate Face plates are used to support large diameter and irregularly shaped workpieces. This is done by the use of jaws acting like the reversible jaws of an independent chuck.

 The

lathe dogs and drive plates Drive plates in combination with lathe dogs or carriers are accessories to transfer rotary motion to the workpiece, when doing between centre turnings.

1-10.Lathe Machine Steadies

The

Steady Rest This accessory is used to support long thin workpieces so that it will not bend during machining. The steady rest can also be used when long workpiece has to be machined on the end face for turning, drilling, reaming, boring, threading, etc.

 The

Follower Rest or Backrest Another lathe accessory for supporting long slender work.