The Centre Lathe
The Centre Lathe
The Centre Lathe is used to manufacture cylindrical shapes from a range of materials including, steels and plastics. Many of the components that go together to make an engine work have been manufactured using lathes. These may be lathes operated directly by people or computer controlled lathes that have been programmed to carry out a particular task. A basic manual centre lathe is shown below. This type of lathe is controlled by a person turning the various handles on the top slide and cross slide in order to make a product or part.
Parts
The Head Stock
The headstock is the main spindle, speed change mechanism and change gears. The headstock is required to be made as robust as possible due to the cutting forces involved, which can distort a lightly built housing, and induce harmonic vibrations that will transfer through to the work piece, reducing the quality of the finished work piece.
The main spindle is generally hollow to allow long bars to extend through to the work area. This reduces preparation and waste of material. The spindle runs in precision bearings and is fitted with some means of attaching work holding devices such as chucks or faceplates. This end of the spindle usually also has an included taper, frequently a Morse taper, to allow the insertion of hollow tubular (Morse standard) tapers to reduce the size of the tapered hole, and permit use of centres. On older machines, the spindle was directly driven by a flat belt pulley with lower speeds available by manipulating the bull gear. Later machines use a gear box driven by a dedicated electric motor. A fully 'geared head' allows the operator to select suitable speeds entirely through the gearbox.
Lathe Bed
The 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. This is facilitated by hardened and ground bed ways which restrain the carriage and tailstock in a
The Centre Lathe is used to manufacture cylindrical shapes from a range of materials including, steels and plastics. Many of the components that go together to make an engine work have been manufactured using lathes. These may be lathes operated directly by people or computer controlled lathes that have been programmed to carry out a particular task. A basic manual centre lathe is shown below. This type of lathe is controlled by a person turning the various handles on the top slide and cross slide in order to make a product or part.
Parts
The Head Stock
The headstock is the main spindle, speed change mechanism and change gears. The headstock is required to be made as robust as possible due to the cutting forces involved, which can distort a lightly built housing, and induce harmonic vibrations that will transfer through to the work piece, reducing the quality of the finished work piece.
The main spindle is generally hollow to allow long bars to extend through to the work area. This reduces preparation and waste of material. The spindle runs in precision bearings and is fitted with some means of attaching work holding devices such as chucks or faceplates. This end of the spindle usually also has an included taper, frequently a Morse taper, to allow the insertion of hollow tubular (Morse standard) tapers to reduce the size of the tapered hole, and permit use of centres. On older machines, the spindle was directly driven by a flat belt pulley with lower speeds available by manipulating the bull gear. Later machines use a gear box driven by a dedicated electric motor. A fully 'geared head' allows the operator to select suitable speeds entirely through the gearbox.
Lathe Bed
The 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. This is facilitated by hardened and ground bed ways which restrain the carriage and tailstock in a