Lathe

MACHINE TOOLS
LATHE
A Lathe is a general purpose machine tool which holds the work piece in a
work holding device and rotating it against a suitable cutting tool to remove
excess metal from the work piece. It employs single point cutting tool for various
type of operation. The tool should be harder than material of work piece. Lathe is
also known as mother of all machine tools.

FUNCTIONS OF LATHE
1. To remove excess material from the work piece.
2. To produce cylindrical work piece.
3. To carryout the operations such as drilling, boring, grinding, milling etc.

PARTS OF LATHE

Bed:

It is the foundation part of the lathe and supports all its other parts. Its top
surface is machined to provide guide ways for carriage.

Carriage:
Basic Mechanical Engineering notes by Ravichandran G

Lathe
It supports the tool. It is composed of 5 main parts saddle, compound rest,
tool post and apron.
Saddle is sliding along the guide ways to provide the movement of the tool in a
direction parallel to the direction of work piece axis.
Cross slide is placed above the saddle and can be moved by hand wheel or by
power feed.
Compound rest is mounted on cross slide. It is used to move the tool at an angle
to the lathe axis.
Tool post is mounted on top of compound rest. It is used to hold the tool using
tool holder.
Apron is a part used to house the carriage through gears and clutches.

Head Stock:
It is located at the left side of the Lathe. It contains driving mechanism of
the spindle. A stepped cone pulley is used in head stock to accommodate
different speeds. Also headstock is used to support one end of the work piece.

Tail Stock:
It is located at the right side of the Lathe. It is mounted on the base with
adjusting screws. The important function of tail stock are to support the free end
of the work piece also to hold cutting tools for performing certain machining
operations like drilling, boring etc.

Feed box:
It is fitted directly below the head stock. It contains a number of different
types of gears to change the speed.

Feed rod:
It is a long shaft which supports the movement of the carriage throughout
the lathe length.

Lead Screw:
It is a long threaded shaft. It is used when threads have to be cut. It is used
to move the carriage during thread cutting operation.

Chuck:
It is the element to hold the work piece.

Basic Mechanical Engineering notes by Ravichandran G

Lathe

Lathe Specification

1. Overall length of bed

It is the total space occupied by the Lathe.
2. Maximum diameter of work piece
It is also known as swing of Lathe. Swing is specified at two positions
a. Maximum swing diameter over the carriage
It is the largest diameter of the work piece which revolves over the
carriage.
b. Maximum swing over bed
It is the largest diameter of work piece revolving over the bed.
3. Distance between centers
It indicates the maximum length of work piece that can be mounted
between the centers.

Lathe Operations
1. Facing
Facing is an operation of machining the ends of a
work piece to produce a flat surface square with the
axis. It is also used to cut the work to the required
length. The operation involves feeding the tool
perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the work piece.

Basic Mechanical Engineering notes by Ravichandran G

Lathe
A properly ground facing tool is mounted in the tool post. A regular turning tool
may also be used for facing a large work piece. The cutting edge should be set at
the same height as the center of the work piece.

2. Plain Turning

It is an operation of removing excess material from

the surface of the cylindrical work piece. In this operation
the work is held either in the chuck or between centers and
the longitudinal feed is given to the tool either by hand or
power. This operation is done to reduce the diameter of
work piece.

3. Step Turning
In this type of operation various steps of different
diameters in the work piece are produced. It is carried out
the similar way as plain turning.

in

4. Drilling
It is an operation of producing a cylindrical hole in
work piece by rotating cutting edge of a cutter known as
the drill. For this operation the work is held in a suitable
device and the drill is held in the sleeve or barrel of the
tailstock. The drill is fed by hand by rotating the hand
wheel of the tailstock.

5. Threading
Threading is an operation of cutting helical
grooves on the external cylindrical surface of the work
piece. In this operation the work is held in a chuck or
between centers and the threading tool is fed
longitudinally to the revolving work. The longitudinal
feed is equal in the pitch of the thread to be cut.

6. Knurling
It is an operation of embossing a diamond
shaped pattern on the surface of a work piece. The
Basic Mechanical Engineering notes by Ravichandran G

Lathe
purpose of knurling is to provide an effective gripping surface on a work piece to
prevent it from slipping when operated by hand.
The operation is performed by a special knurling tool which consists of one set of
hardened steel rollers in a holder with the teeth cut on their surface in a definite
pattern. The tool is held rigidly on the tool post and the rollers are pressed against
the revolving work piece to squeeze the metal against the multiple cutting edges,
producing depressions in a regular pattern on the surface of the work piece.

7. Taper Turning
A taper may be defined as an uniform increase or decrease in diameter of a
piece of work measured along its length.
Taper angle is given by
Dd
Tan =
2L

Dd

A = tan-12L

Where D Large diameter of taper

d Small diameter of taper
L Length of tapered part
Half of taper angle

By setting over the tailstock

center

This method is used for small

taper only. It is based upon the
principle of shifting the axis of rotation
of the work piece at an angle to the
axis and feeding the tool parallel to
the lathe axis. The angle at which the
axis rotation of work piece is shifted is
equal to half angle of taper. This is
done when the body of the tailstock is
made to slide on its base towards or
away from the operator by a set over
screw.

By swiveling the compound rest

Basic Mechanical Engineering notes by Ravichandran G

Lathe
It is the best method as it doesnt affect the centering of the job. In this
method of taper turning the work piece is rotated on the lathe axis and the tool is
fed at an angle to the axis of rotation of the work piece. The tool mounted on the
compound rest is attached to the circular base, graduated in degrees which may
be swiveled and clamped at an desired angle.

Basic Mechanical Engineering notes by Ravichandran G