Here is the list of lathe machine types commonly used in the real world:
Now let’s explore each device in brief.
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A Speed Lathe Machine is a high-speed, hand-operated lathe machine, mainly used by woodworkers. It can provide a spindle speed from 1200 to 3600rpm.
The machine comes with a very simple design, it contains headstock, bed, tailstock, and tool post.
Due to their high-speed spindle, speed lathe machines are used for woodturning, furniture making, metal polishing, spinning, and centering.
Engine lathe machine is the most popular type of lathe machine. You can find it inside any manufacturing workshop.
Nowadays the machine is driven by an electric motor but back in the 19th-century people used steam engines to drive the machine. That’s why it is called an engine lathe machine even it does contain an engine nowadays.
It is also called center lathe machine, because back then almost all machine tools were driven by either separate engines or central engines.
This type of lathe machine is used for woodworking and metalworking. You can perform various machining operations on this lathe machine… such as turning, facing, grooving, knurling, threading, drilling, boring, reaming, and many more.
And lastly, the machine is capable of handling workpieces up to 1 meter in diameter, and up to 4 meters in length.
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A turret lathe machine is an advanced lathe machine used for mass production. It is kind of an upgraded version of an engine lathe, where the tailstock is replaced by a revolving hexagonal turret.
In this turret, you can set up multiple cutting tools (usually up to 6 tools), such as drilling, countersinking, reaming, tapping, etc.
You see, this design makes your work a lot easier, all you have to do is simply clamp your workpiece in the chuck, perform the first operation, now rotate the turret, and perform the second operation. You can repeat the process as long as you want.
There are mainly three benefits of this machine:
It reduces your workpiece load/unload time:yes, just clamp your workpiece once, and perform as many operations you want in a single setup.
This is a special breed of lathe machine mostly used to make precision parts and tools such as die, gauges, jigs, and fixtures.
It looks similar to an engine lathe machine. But it is made from more accurate and precise parts than an engine lathe machine. Thus, the price of a toolroom machine is higher than an engine lathe machine.
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A bench lathe machine is a small-size, hand-operated power lathe, mainly used for small precision work. It looks very similar to speed lathe machines.
If you have a light job that requires lathe machine operations such as turning, facing, grooving, parting, threading, drilling, boring, knurling, and tapping, this machine is for you.
But in general, jewelers and watchmakers use this machine a lot for their machining needs.
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An automatic Lathe machine comes with a group of mechanisms that makes it capable of changing and feeding cutting tools automatically.
When you have a job that is complicated precision operations, requires skills, and you have to produce it in mass quantity… this machine is suitable.
This machine is heavy-duty, production-friendly, and expensive.
You can guess by the name, special purpose lathe machines are custom-tailored lathe machines to suit particular needs. They are mostly used for heavy-duty jobs, where regular lathes can’t be used, or using regular lathes can be costlier or time-consuming.
There are hundreds of special-purpose lathe machines are available but here are some of the most popular ones:
These are expensive machines and comes in all size and shapes.
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CNC Lathe Machines are the most up-to-date lathe machines in terms of technology.
They come with a modern computer numeric control system (CNC). You can use this control system to add a CAD/CAM program and after that, whenever you command the machine, it will start and perform the machining operation according to your program input.
There are tons of features in CNC lathe machines, some important features are as below:
Many people think that you don’t need special skills to operate this machine, however, no one should operate this machine without proper training, it is a very expensive machine, and with a new operator, the chances of an accident increase.
Okay, so that was all the information that you might want to know about the types of lathe machines used in workshops and toolrooms.
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