Lathe Machine and Parts of Lathe Machine

The lathe is a machine tool which holds the work piece between two rigid and strong supports called centres or in a chuck or face plate which revolves. The cutting tool is rigidly held and supported in a tool post which is fed against the revolving work. The normal cutting operations are performed with the cutting tool fed either parallel or at right angles to the axis of the work. The cutting tool may also be fed at angle relative to the axis of work for machining tapers and angles. Lathe machine is a main machine from which all kind of job work is done like drilling, plain turning, step turning, facing, parting, boring, threading, forming, etc. The one who know how to operate lathe machine can operate all kind of machines. The main parts of the lathe are bed, headstock, quick changing gear box, carriage and tailstock.

Bed:-
The bed is a heavy, rugged casting in which are mounted the working parts of the lathe. It carries the headstock and tailstock for supporting the workpiece and provides a base for the movement of carriage assembly which carries the tool.

Headstock:-
The headstock is clamped on the left hand side of the bed and it serves as a housing for the driving pulleys, back gears, headstock spindle or machine spindles, live centre and the feed reverse gear. The headstock spindle is a hollow cylindrical shaft that provides a drive from the motor to work holding devices. The spindle can be driven by a stepped pulley and a belt, or by transmission gears. The lathe with a stepped pulley drive is generally called a belt-driven lathe, and the gear driven lathe is referred to as a geared-head lathe.

Gear Box:-
The quick change gear-box is placed below the headstock and contains a number of different sized gears. This provides the feed rod and lead screw with various speeds for turning and thread cutting operations. The feed rod advances the carriage for turning operations whereas the lead screw does so far cutting threads.

Carriage:-

The carriage is located between the headstock and tailstock and serves the purpose of supporting, guiding and feeding the tool against the job during operation. Main parts of carriage are saddle, croos slide, compound rest, tool post, apron.

Tailstock:-
The tailstock is a movable casting located opposite the headstock on the ways of the bed. The tailstock can slide along the bed to accommodate different lengths of workpiece between the centres. A tailstock clamp is provided to lock the tailstock at any desired position. The tailstock spindle has an internal taper to hold the dead centre and the tapered shank tools such as reamers.