As you know, the processing of metal products requires professional equipment in the production process - metalworking machines. Such technical equipment today is focused on solving a variety of problems, in this regard, it has a rather complex classification. Let's take a closer look at one of the types of metal-cutting equipment - lathes.
Lathes for metal make up a significant group of metal-cutting machines. The latter also includes bending equipment that is in demand in modern production (for example, a hydraulic press brake), as well as drilling, grinding, and cutting machines.
Lathes allow you to perform a variety of types of turning. Among them: turning of conical, shaped, cylindrical surfaces, trimming ends, boring, drilling, threading, knurling of corrugations, etc. In addition, with the help of special equipment on the machines, you can carry out milling, grinding, processing of wheelsets, couplings, pipes and other products.
Rotation of the workpiece on this kind of structures is carried out due to the drive of the main movement, which provides stepwise or stepless control of the spindle rotation frequency. The movement of the cutting tool is provided by a kinematic chain of movement of feeds, the links of which are a spindle, a rack-and-pinion drive or a lead screw paired with a mother nut. As for the setting of the feed, it is done using the feed box.
The processes of automation of small-scale production, which are characteristic of the modern stage, have led to the emergence of metalworking equipment with numerical control (CNC). This is a hydraulic press brake, and milling, lathe.
CNC metal lathes differ in some features. Along with the traditional one, they are characterized by the arrangement with inclined bed guides. This makes it easier to remove chips from the equipment and protects the workspace. In such designs, the following are programmed: caliper movements, spindle speed switching, turret rotation, reverse and stop of the main movement drive, tool change, etc. In most cases, the machines have hydraulic or electric turrets.
Among the turning equipment, it is worth highlighting a group of universal machines, which are most often used for single and small-scale production. However, when equipping structures with special devices (for example, electric or hydrocopying calipers, automated chucks), their scope can be expanded to mass production.
As for mass production, in this case, the most popular are revolving, semi-automatic turning and automatic models. Maintenance of the latter is reduced, first of all, to the periodic adjustment and control of the processed products. The operating cycle of this equipment is controlled by a camshaft with cams installed on it.
Thus, the use of lathes in production is an opportunity to carry out a whole range of metal processing operations, from roughing and cutting to high-precision turning.
