Zone: Turning Machines

Hobbing on a Turning Center

This manufacturer’s use of live-tool lathes overcomes labor cost in various ways. One of the latest sources of savings involves bringing another operation—hobbing—into these machines. INCLUDES VIDEO.

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The Part Is Longer Than The Lathe

Here is one custom machine builder’s system for producing a 40-foot part that has to be passed through the turning center and out the other side. INCLUDES VIDEO.

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Increasing Business with Hard Turning
1/23/2012 Production Machining: By gaining experience in hard turning, a shop adds to its arsenal a cost-effective alternative to grinding, opening doors to new opportunities.
A Look at High Precision
12/22/2011 Production Machining: Here's an overview of the new features available on a series of multi-process machining centers designed for both bar-fed work and blanks.
Turn-Mill Center Aids Shop through Recession
12/22/2011 Production Machining: Bryan Cardon chose multitasking as the solution to improve his shop’s workflow. He reduced cycle times and leadtimes for his customers in his Ogden, Utah, machine shop after implementing the Ganesh 32CS seven-axis, twin spindle, turn-mill center. The company also gained new customers and jobs because of this new machine and its capabilities.
Inverted Vertical Turning
12/21/2011 Production Machining: The traditional vertical turning lathe design remained unchanged for a century, with the main spindle base and the tool carrier mounted in a two-axis slide unit above the spindle.
More Effective Camshaft Machining
11/11/2011 Modern Machine Shop: A leading manufacturer of high-performance valve train components installed a twin spindle/twin-turret lathe to bring camshaft machining work in-house. Here, the company explains how it has become more effective using its multifunction lathe to produce small batches of custom racing camshafts.

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Overview Of:
Turning Machines

“Turning” defines the work that is traditionally done on a lathe. As lathes have grown in sophistication, some of these machines have been given different names. “Turning centers” is a term sometimes applied to machines with particularly sophisticated capabilities related to secondary spindles and/or rotating tools for milling and drilling. Another term, “turn/mill machines,” describes machines that can be thought of as being just as capable at milling and drilling parts as they are at turning. In turning, unlike in milling or drilling, the workpiece spins while the cutting tool does not. The cutting tool feeds along the length or diameter of the rotating part. The workpiece in turning can be held in a chuck or collet, to name two of the more common workholding methods. The turning machine may also include spindles for the cutting tools to accomplish non-turning operations such as milling and drilling. If this is the case, the machine stops the workpiece from spinning in order to perform these operations within the same machining cycle as the turning work. In fact, for some parts, the milling and drilling capabilities may be used so extensively that a non-turned, non-round part might also be produced on this type of machine. Lathes, turning centers and turn-mill machines can have horizontal or vertical spindles. Horizontal spindles are more common. If the machine has a vertical spindle, then the spindle may locate below or above the machine. If the workpiece rests on a table driven by the spindle, then this machine is generally called a vertical turret lathe, or VTL. If the workpiece is held from above by the vertical spindle, then this type of turning machine is generally called an inverted vertical lathe.