Read this article to know more about a unique type of lathe machine which can be used for mass production either using modern CNC technology or older mechanical system controls.

Introduction

We have been talking quite a lot about various types of machines used in industry in general as well as those used specifically in manufacturing technology including lathe machines. In this article we will focus on a particular type of lathe namely the turret type CNC lathe and learn about its working and uses it can be put to.

What is a Turret Type CNC Lathe?

As we learnt earlier, a lathe can be used for various purposes including woodcutting, metal-cutting, watch-making and what not. The basic purpose of all these machines is to minimize human labour involved in the process and make it as much automated and refined as possible. Lathes which are used for metal cutting in industrial processes are normally required to produce products on a mass scale.

A single product requires several machining operations which in turn would require several different kinds of tools to carry out these operations. If an operator were to manually adjust each tool after every single operation, this would certainly consume a lot of time and unnecessary efforts.

Keeping the above limitations in mind the engineers came up with the idea of a typical lathe machine where everything could be fitted and configured in one go literally speaking. Such a metal working lathe which has got a turret and can perform several functions in an automated fashion is known as a turret lathe.

How does it function?

It is all very well to say that the processes are automated but how do we go about achieving the same? Well the answer varies depending on the nature of lathe we are talking about. For example modern CNC lathes use servo-mechanisms to control and time all these processes while in the older versions mechanical arrangements such as stop limits etc. are used to achieve the same goal.

About the turret

If you are aware of gun related terminology you surely would know that a turret refers to a sort of arrangement which his used to hold several weapons which can fire the particular shot depending on exact requirement. The turret of the lathe is a similar platform in the form of a tool holder, which holds various tools which can be used by appropriate rotation depending on the requirement of the work piece in a specific order which is preset using whichever method is used to control the automation.

If you need more information about turret type CNC lathe, welcome to visit the website of JINN FA Machine Industrial Co., Ltd., the precision machine tool manufacturer in Taiwan. Please don’t hesitate to contact with Jinn Fa for further details about turret lathe.

Article Source: http://www.brighthubengineering.com/manufacturing-technology/40255-what-is-a-turret-lathe/