Using CNC Lathes
The CNC lathe is a lathe which means the computer controls all operations. These machines make industrial components without any human assistance. The machines are provided coded instructions which are provided to internal computers and which help manufacturers to fabricate parts accurately and quickly. CNC machines come in many different types including drills, plasma cutters, and milling machines. These machines can be programmed to do a number of tasks including sanding, drilling, cutting, and machining. CNC lathe machines work on metals or wood and can help reduce production time and increase profitability.
Lathes have been around for a long time, actually since biblical times. The first metal lathe, however, was not invented until the early 1800s. This first lathe was very simple and included hand cranks to move the cutting tool and a spindle to hold the workpiece. The first CNC machines were developed in the 1940s and were first used to make helicopter rotor blades. These first CNC lathes were guided by first generation IBM computers which guided the cutting tools by programmed paths.
Milling, lathes, and grinders are the most common CNC machines. CNC lathes have benefited greatly from the rapid advances in computer technology which have allowed CNC lathes to make a variety of sophisticated metal parts with speed and accuracy. Lathes cut raw material which is spinning rapidly with tool blocks, boring bars and drills to shape parts. The CNC lathe’s tool and inserts work down the raw material to shape it while the boring inserts and the drills make holes where needed.
CNC lathes range in sophistication from extremely complex to fairly simple. Most lathes are manufactured by companies who specialize in making highly complex specialized machinery. Most CNC lathes have a tool carrier which holds tools, including the drills, a spindle, a chuck jaw, insert cutters, and reamers. The tool turret can move in two axes – Z and X – and the spindle turn the part. X is a front to back movement and Z is left to right.
The operations that CNC lathes perform are numerous, but the most common is turning. When material is cut away while the workpiece turns at extremely high speeds, this is called turning. Centered holes can also be made in materials as well by reamers and drills operated by a CNC lathe. Live tooling is when a CNC lathe performs milling operations and the spindle is stopped. This is combining two operations in one machine. When a lathe can do this, holes can be drilled or cut off center, which can typically be done only by a milling machine. Other benefits of a CNC lathe are it can do cylindrical cuts which normally must be done by hand. In a CNC lathe, these moves can be programmed and the machine will do the cuts with little to no chance of error.
CNC lathes can make precision cuts with speed and accuracy reducing production time and saving costs. This is especially true with cylindrical parts and milling. With a manual lathe, any work with a cylindrical part requires that each tool be inserted and reprogrammed with each new tool. A CNC lathe requires programming only once and then it’s programmed for the entire sequence. A CNC lathe is really a great time and cost saving tool.
The CNC lathe is a lathe which means the computer controls all operations. These machines make industrial components without any human assistance. The machines are provided coded instructions which are provided to internal computers and which help manufacturers to fabricate parts accurately and quickly. CNC machines come in many different types including drills, plasma cutters, and milling machines. These machines can be programmed to do a number of tasks including sanding, drilling, cutting, and machining. CNC lathe machines work on metals or wood and can help reduce production time and increase profitability.
Lathes have been around for a long time, actually since biblical times. The first metal lathe, however, was not invented until the early 1800s. This first lathe was very simple and included hand cranks to move the cutting tool and a spindle to hold the workpiece. The first CNC machines were developed in the 1940s and were first used to make helicopter rotor blades. These first CNC lathes were guided by first generation IBM computers which guided the cutting tools by programmed paths.
Milling, lathes, and grinders are the most common CNC machines. CNC lathes have benefited greatly from the rapid advances in computer technology which have allowed CNC lathes to make a variety of sophisticated metal parts with speed and accuracy. Lathes cut raw material which is spinning rapidly with tool blocks, boring bars and drills to shape parts. The CNC lathe’s tool and inserts work down the raw material to shape it while the boring inserts and the drills make holes where needed.
CNC lathes range in sophistication from extremely complex to fairly simple. Most lathes are manufactured by companies who specialize in making highly complex specialized machinery. Most CNC lathes have a tool carrier which holds tools, including the drills, a spindle, a chuck jaw, insert cutters, and reamers. The tool turret can move in two axes – Z and X – and the spindle turn the part. X is a front to back movement and Z is left to right.
The operations that CNC lathes perform are numerous, but the most common is turning. When material is cut away while the workpiece turns at extremely high speeds, this is called turning. Centered holes can also be made in materials as well by reamers and drills operated by a CNC lathe. Live tooling is when a CNC lathe performs milling operations and the spindle is stopped. This is combining two operations in one machine. When a lathe can do this, holes can be drilled or cut off center, which can typically be done only by a milling machine. Other benefits of a CNC lathe are it can do cylindrical cuts which normally must be done by hand. In a CNC lathe, these moves can be programmed and the machine will do the cuts with little to no chance of error.
CNC lathes can make precision cuts with speed and accuracy reducing production time and saving costs. This is especially true with cylindrical parts and milling. With a manual lathe, any work with a cylindrical part requires that each tool be inserted and reprogrammed with each new tool. A CNC lathe requires programming only once and then it’s programmed for the entire sequence. A CNC lathe is really a great time and cost saving tool.