Monday, November 8, 2010

CNC Lathe machine

CNC Lathe machine

CNC lathes are rapidly replacing the older production lathes (multispindle, etc.) due to their ease of setting and operation. They are designed to use modern carbide tooling and fully use modern processes. The part may be designed and the toolpaths programmed by the CAD/CAM process, and the resulting file uploaded to the machine, and once set and trialled the machine will continue to turn out parts under the occasional supervision of an operator.
The machine is controlled electronically via a computer menu style interface, the program may be modified and displayed at the machine, along with a simulated view of the process. The setter/operator needs a high level of skill to perform the process, however the knowledge base is broader compared to the older production machines where intimate knowledge of each machine was considered essential. These machines are often set and operated by the same person, where the operator will supervise a small number of machines (cell).
Monitor
Parts
Parts
Desciption
Headstock
Here you will find the main spindle, the change gears and the speed change mechanism. Within the headstock you will have a strong design because it has to cut with a variety of force
Bed
the base of the headstock and it allows connects to it
helps set the carriage and the tailstock in perfect parallel alignment to the spindle axis

Feed or Leadscrew
feedscrew is the drive shaft for the machine and works with the gears to drive the mechanism of the carriage
feedscrew and leadscrew work together with the spindle to make the correct amount of screw threads on the work that you are doing.

Carriage
within the carriage is the tool bit that turns either in a perpendicular or longitudinal direction depending on how the operator controls it.
Cross slide
It has both a main spindle axis and a leadscrew
Monitor
To key in CNC programming

CNC lathe machine








Conventional lathe machines

History of lathe machines


The lathe is an ancient tool, dating at least to the Egyptians and known and used in Assyria, Greece, the Roman and Byzantine Empires.
  
Egyptian:
The origin of turning dates to around 1300 BC when the Egyptians first developed a two-person lathe. One person would turn the wood work piece with a rope while the other used a sharp tool to cut shapes in the wood.
Romans:
Romans improved the Egyptian design with the addition of a turning bow. Early bow lathes were also developed and used in Germany, France and Britain.
a pedal replaced hand-operated turning, freeing both the craftsman's hands to hold the woodturning tools. The pedal was usually connected to a pole, often a straight-grained sapling. The system today is called the "spring pole" lathe.
Industrial Revolution:
mechanized power generated by water wheels or steam engines was transmitted to the lathe via line shafting, allowing faster and easier work. The design of lathes diverged between woodworking and metalworking to a greater extent than in previous centuries. Metalworking lathes evolved into heavier machines with thicker, more rigid parts. The application of leadscrews, slide rests, and gearing produced commercially practical screw-cutting lathes. Between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries, individual electric motors at each lathe replaced line shafting as the power source. Beginning in the 1950s, servomechanisms were applied to the control of lathes and other machine tools via numerical control (NC), which often was coupled with computers to yield computerized numerical control (CNC). Today manually controlled and CNC lathes coexist in the manufacturing industries.

Parts at conventional lathe machines

Parts
Description
stand (or legs)sits on the floor and elevates the lathe bed to a working height
beda horizontal beam
headstockhigh-precision spinning bearings
SpindleRotating within the bearings is a horizontal axle, with an axis parallel to the bed
Spindles are often hollow, and have exterior threads and/or an interior Morse taper on the "inboard"
tailstockcounterpoint to the headstock
referred to as the loose head, as it can be positioned at any convenient point on the bed
toolpostholds a cutting tool which removes material from the workpiece
leadscrewmoves the cross-slide along the bed




Example product produce by conventional lathe machines

Chess pieces