CNC control and cuttingLathes are machine tools designed primarily to do turning, facing and boring, Very little turning is done on other types of machine tools, and none can do it with equal facility. Because lathes also can do drilling and reaming, their versatility permits several operations to be done with a single setup of the work piece. Consequently, more lathes of various types are used in manufacturing than any other machine tool.The essential components of a lathe are the bed, headstock assembly, tailstock assembly, and the leads crew and feed rod.The bed is the backbone of a lathe. It usually is made of well normalized or aged gray or nodular cast iron and provides s heavy, rigid frame on which all the other basic components are mounted. Two sets of parallel, longitudinal ways, inner and outer, are contained on the bed, usually on the upper side. Some makers use an inverted V-shape for all four ways, whereas others utilize one inverted V and one flat way in one or both sets, They are precision-machined to assure accuracy of alignment. On most modern lathes the way are surface-hardened to resist wear and abrasion, but precaution should be taken in operating a lathe to assure that the ways are not damaged. Any inaccuracy in them usually means that the accuracy of the entire lathe is destroyed.The headstock is mounted in a foxed position on the inner ways, usually at the left end of the bed. It provides a powered means of rotating the word at various speeds . Essentially, it consists of a hollow spindle, mounted in accurate bearings, and a set of transmission gears-similar to a truck transmissionthrough which the spindle can be rotated at a number of speeds. Most lathes provide from 8 to 18 speeds, usually in a geometric ratio, and on modern lathes all the speeds can be obtained merely by moving from two to four levers. An increasing trend is to provide a continuously variable speed range through electrical or mechanical drives.Because the accuracy of a lathe is greatly dependent on the spindle, it is of heavy construction and mounted in heavy bearings, usually preloaded tapered roller or ball types. The spindle has a hole extending through its length, through which long bar stock can be fed. The size of maximum size of bar stock that can be machined when the material must be fed through spindle.The tailsticd assembly consists, essentially, of three parts. A lower casting fits on the inner ways of the bed and can slide longitudinally thereon, with a means for clamping the entire assembly in any desired location, An upper casting fits on the lower one and can be moved transversely upon it, on some type of keyed ways, to permit aligning the assembly is the tailstock quill. This is a hollow steel cylinder, usually about 51 to 76mm(2to 3 inches) in diameter, that can be moved several inches longitudinally in and out of the upper casting by means of a hand wheel and screw.The size of a lathe is designated by two dimensions. The first is known as the swing. This is the maximum diameter of work that can be rotated on a lathe. It is approximately twice the distance between the line connecting the lathe centers and the nearest point on the ways, The second size dimension is the maximum distance between centers. The swing thus indicates the maximum work piece diameter that can be turned in the lathe, while the distance between centers indicates the maximum length of work piece that can be mounted between centers.Engine lathes are the type most frequently used in manufacturing. They are heavy-duty machine tools with all the components described previously and have power drive for all tool movements except on the compound rest. They commonly range in size from 305 to 610 mm(12 to 24 inches)swing and from 610 to 1219 mm(24 to 48 inches) center distances, but swings up to 1270 mm(50 inches) and center distances up to 3658mm(12 feet) are not uncommon. Most have chip pans and a built-in coolant circulating system. Smaller engine lathes-with swings usually not over 330 mm (13 inches ) also are available in bench type, designed for the bed to be mounted on a bench on a bench or cabinet. Although engine lathes are versatile and very useful, because of the time required for changing and setting tools and for making measurements on the work piece, thy are not suitable for quantity production. Often the actual chip-production tine is less than 30% of the total cycle time. In addition, a skilled machinist is required for all the operations, and such persons are costly and often in short supply. However, much of the operators time is consumed by simple, repetitious adjustments and in watching chips being made. Consequently, to reduce or eliminate the amount of skilled labor that is required, turret lathes, screw machines, and other types of semiautomatic and automatic lathes have been highly developed and are widely used in manufacturing.2 Numerical ControlOne of the most funda