Lathe Types

Types of Lathe Machines:

Lathes are available in large sort of types and sizes. It is difficult to classify them into categories. There is a reasonably large variation in their design, construction and use. However, according to their construction and design we can classify the lathes as follows:

Bench Lathe

1. Bench Lathe:      

It is a small lathe and is mounted on a separately prepar types of Lathe Machines:

Lathes are available in large sort of types and sizes. It is difficult to classify them into categories. There is a reasonably large variation in their design, coned bench or cabinet. It is used for little and precision work since it's very accurate. It is usually given all the attachments, which a bigger lathe carries, and is capable of performing most the operations which a bigger lathe can do.

Speed Lathe

2. Speed Lathes:

These lathes could also be of bench type or they'll have the supporting legs cast and fitted to the bed. These lathes have most of the attachments which the opposite sorts of lathe carry but haven't any provision for power feed. They have no gear box, carriage and therefore the lead screw. With the result, the tool is fed and actuated by hand. Usually the tool is either mounted on a tool post or supported on a T-shaped support. Such lathes are usually employed for wood turning, polishing, centering and metal spinning, etc. Thus, they will be considered as merely of a theoretical value thus far because the modern machine shops are concerned. They are named so because of the very high speed at which the spindle rotates.

 Engine Lathe

3. Engine Lathe:

It is probably the foremost widely used sort of lathe. It carries an excellent historical significance that within the very youth of its development it had been driven by a external-combustion engine.

Although it practically resembles a speed lathe in most of its features, but its construction is comparatively more robust. Its headstock is greater in size and more robust, incorporating suitable mechanism for providing multiple speeds to the lathe spindle. The headstock spindle may receive power, from a lathe shaft or a private motor, through belts. In that case, it'll have a cone pulley with back gears within the headstock to supply different speeds to the spindle. It carries a mixture of gears, rather than the cone pulley and back gears combination, the lathe is known as geared head lathe and the headstock as all geared head stock.

Tool Room Lathe

4. Tool Room Lathe:

It is nothing but an equivalent engine lathe but equipped with some extra attachments to form it suitable for a comparatively more accurate angle of speeds and feeds. The usual attachments provided on a tool room lathe are taper turning attachment, follower rest, collets, chucks, etc. This lathe is formed to possess a relatively smaller bed length than the standard engine lathe. The most commonly used lengths are 135 to 180 cm.

Capstan and Turret Lathe

5. Capstan and Turret Lathe:

These lathes form as vital and useful group and are vastly utilized in production. These machines are literally of semi-automatic type and really wide selections of operations are often performed on them. In operating these machines, a really wide selection of operations is often performed on them. In operating these machines, a really little skill is required of the operator. Whatever skill is required of the operator is merely within the setting of tools within the turret or capstan head, and once this setting has been successfully accomplished further operation of those machines is more or less automatic. They carry special mechanisms for indexing of their tool heads.

Automatic Lathe

6. Automatic Lathe:

These lathes help an extended way in enhancing the standard also because the quantity of production. They are so designed that each one the working and job handling movements of the entire manufacturing process for employment are done automatically. No participation of the operator is required during the operation. Another sort of this sort of lathes includes the semi-automatic lathes, in which the mounting and removal of work is done by operator whereas all the operations are performed by the machine automatically. Automatic lathes are available having single or multi spindles. They fall within the category of heavy duty, high speed lathes mainly employed in production.

Special Purpose Lathe

7. Special Purpose Lathes:

A large number of lathes are designed to suit a particular class of labor and to perform certain specified operations only. They convince be more efficient and effective as compared to the common engine lathe thus far as this specified class of labor cares.