Description

Turning is a manufacturing process in metal cutting and is regarded as one of the basic processes in mechanical metal cutting in addition to milling, drilling and grinding. The machine tool required for machining is the lathe. In its basic state, it consists of various components:

• a drive which rotates the workpiece fixed in the chuck
• a tool slide which bears the turning tool with handwheels and/or other drives to move the tool axes
• a stable and vibration-damping frame
• additional components, so-called bezels and a tailstock to support long turned parts

The simple mechanical shape of a universal lathe is depicted in the figure below. It is mainly used to produce small batches and manufacture one-off parts in workshops. For medium-size and large batch production, the so-called CNC lathe is used. It has a CNC controller which executes a programmed tool motion on complex paths.