Conventional Lathes: These lathes offer a wide range of machining capabilities, with a large adjustment range for spindle speed and feed rate. They can machine the internal and external surfaces, end faces, and internal and external threads of workpieces. Primarily operated manually, these lathes have low production efficiency and are suitable for single-piece, small-batch production and repair shops.
Turret and Rotary Lathes: These lathes feature turret tool posts or rotary tool posts capable of holding multiple tools. Operators can use different tools sequentially to complete multiple machining operations within a single workpiece clamping, making them suitable for batch production.
Automatic Lathes: These lathes automatically complete multi-operation machining of small to medium-sized workpieces according to a set program. They can automatically load and unload materials and repeatedly machine batches of identical workpieces, making them suitable for large-scale production.
Multi-Tool Semi-Automatic Lathes: These are available in single-spindle, multi-spindle, horizontal, and vertical configurations. The single-spindle horizontal lathe has a layout similar to a conventional lathe, but two sets of tool posts are mounted at the front and rear or above and below the spindle. They are used for machining discs, rings, and shafts, and their productivity is 3-5 times higher than that of a conventional lathe.
Copying Lathes: These lathes automatically complete the machining cycle of a workpiece by copying the shape and dimensions of a template or sample (see copying machine tool). They are suitable for small-batch and mass production of workpieces with complex shapes, offering 10-15 times higher productivity than ordinary lathes. Types include multi-tool lathes, multi-axis lathes, chuck lathes, and vertical lathes.
Vertical Lathes: The spindle is perpendicular to the horizontal plane. The workpiece is clamped on a horizontal rotary table, and the tool post moves on a beam or column. Suitable for machining larger, heavier workpieces that are difficult to mount on ordinary lathes. They are divided into single-column and double-column types.
Gear Shaping Lathes: While turning, the tool post periodically reciprocates radially, used for shaping the tooth surfaces of milling cutters, hobs, etc. They usually have a grinding attachment, with a small grinding wheel driven by a separate motor to grind the tooth surfaces.
Specialized Lathes: Lathes designed to machine specific surfaces of certain types of workpieces, such as crankshaft lathes, camshaft lathes, wheel lathes, axle lathes, roll lathes, and ingot lathes.
Combined lathes are primarily used for turning, but with the addition of special parts and accessories, they can also perform boring, milling, drilling, planing, and grinding, making them versatile and suitable for repair work on engineering vehicles, ships, or mobile repair stations.
Saddle lathes have a recessed bed at the left end of the headstock, allowing for the machining of large-diameter parts. The lathe's shape, high at both ends and low in the middle, resembles a saddle, hence the name. Saddle lathes are suitable for machining parts with large radial dimensions and small axial dimensions. They are suitable for turning workpiece outer diameters, inner holes, end faces, grooving, and metric, imperial, module, and pitch threads. They can also perform drilling, boring, and reaming, making them particularly suitable for single-piece and batch production. Saddle lathes can machine larger diameter workpieces within the saddle groove. The machine tool guideways are hardened and precision ground, ensuring convenient and reliable operation. The lathe features high power, high speed, high rigidity, high precision, and low noise.
