According to the construction and design lathe can be classified as follows:
Bench Lathe: It is small in size and mounted on a separate table. It has all the attachments, which a larger lathe has. It is used to perform a precise work.
Speed Lathe: This may be bench type or legs supported lathe. It has no gear box, carriage, and lead screw. Therefore, tool is actuated and fed by hand. This lathe is used for wood turning, polishing, and spinning purposes.
Engine Lathe: This is most widely used lathe. In early days, during the development phase of the lathe, this lathe was driven by steam engine, therefore named as engine lathe. Nowadays all the engine lathes have separate engines or electric motors. Various speeds are achieved using cone pulley and gears.
Tool Room Lathe: This is very similar to engine lathe but equipped with some extra attachments for more accurate and precise works. The usual attachments are taper turning attachment, follower rest, collets, chucks, etc.
Capstan and Turret Lathes: This is semi-automatic type lathe and a wide range of operations can be performed on them. It can hold a large number of cutting tools compared to engine lathe.
Leave a Reply