The Impact of the Lathe Machining Industry

Let’s take a look at what a lathe machine is, how it works, and how we can benefit from it.

What Is CNC Lathe Machining?

It is mainly a process that uses stationary cutting tools to shape the metal and plastic, which you call workpieces. It works to remove the unwanted parts of the workpiece in order to form the desired product. 

There is always an operator present to control the movements of traditional machines. However, the case is different for CNC lathe machining, which involves the use of a software program. This is one of the benefits of it because there

is no need for a workforce except to load raw material into the machine, start it, and inspect the final product at the end.

The versatile nature of these machines makes lathe CNC machining for various industries such as electronics, automotive, aerospace, and healthcare. You can produce a wide variety of products with the help of lathe CNC machining.

The products include automobile frames, gears, airplane engines, garden tools, and surgical instruments. Moreover, you can manufacture the products with different structures, such as threads and flat surfaces. 

Manufacturing cylindrical components with both outer and inner diameters is also possible.

If you’re planning to buy lathe machining parts, make sure to look for the one with more axes since this is a crucial indicator of a machine’s capabilities.

The higher the axes, the more will be the capability of a machine to produce complex products and vice versa.

How Does CNC Lathe Machining Work?

Before you get an idea of how lathe machining works, you must know about machine’s parts. They include bed, spindle, motor, head-stock, tail-stock and cutting tools. 

Firstly, you must place the workpiece between the head-stock and the tail-stock. The chuck buckles it up for it to stay in a stable position. After that, the spindle helps it rotate at its axis with the help of a motor.

A cutting tool is also held at a certain distance from the workpiece in order to cut it the way you want. The cutting tools may vary depending on the shape you want the product to be in.

What Are The Challenges Associated With CNC Lathe Machining?

CNC lathe machining is an efficient and precise process. But you may have to face multiple challenges during the manufacturing. As a result, the quality of the product, as well as the productivity of the entire process, may get affected. 

The first and most crucial challenge is the wear of tools. This may occur due to the continuous contact between the workpiece and the tools. With the passage of time, the tools degrade, and the efficiency of the machining process 

decreases. For example, if you are to make an aluminum CNC machining component for a vacuum system equipment, you’ve to be careful about the cutting process as well as the tool. 

The reason is that aluminum lathe machined parts cannot withstand high temperatures, and continuous contact with metal may affect the tool.

Another challenge you may encounter is the selection of material. Some materials dissipate heat, which may not be suitable for CNC machining. Also, if any errors in the CNC code were overlooked, the inaccuracies may appear.

This will result in faulty machined parts. So, programming is equally important in the machining process.

It’s not impossible to cope with these challenges. If your entire focus is to produce high-quality products, you can achieve it. However, the challenges may vary based on the products demanded by each industry.

And you may need expert guidance regarding that. So, make sure you choose the best material to make the process as efficient as possible.

Advantages of Lathe Machining

Some of the advantages of lathe machining are given below:

Higher Productivity

The lathe machining process is used in various industries to produce high-quality products with high accuracy. One of the reasons is the presence of CNC lathe machines, which also result in greater productivity.

Money Saving Tool

Lathe machining saves a lot of time and cost since the designs made by the software program work automatically, and there is no such requirement of the workforce. As a result, the industries get economic benefits.

High-Speed Production

The CNC lathe machining is a fast process, as a result of which the products are made in less time without compromising on the quality. 

Limitations of CNC Lathe Machining

Here are some disadvantages of this process:

Highly Skilled Labor

Even though you don’t need many operators to manufacture products, the ones you need must be highly skilled to position the workpiece properly. 

Also, constant supervision is a must while handling such equipment, which is one of its limitations.

Constant Maintenance

The CNC lathe machines require maintenance quite often because of having various moving parts. This requires you to either install parts of the highest quality or maintain them from time-to-time which costs quite a lot. 

This is one of Conclusion Before you plan to start CNC lathe machining, make sure that your tools are good enough for your production needs. Choosing the type of machine is another difficult task,

for which you may also need professional guidance. 

If you want to manufacture parts using CNC machining, Fortuna is the brand that can offer you consultation regarding that. Fortuna has 40 sets of 5-axis CNC machines and 2 sets of 6-axis CNC machines that imported from Japan.

The processing diameter is from 1.0-32MM, the processing precision is 0.005MM, and it can process different materials. The monthly processing capacity of single product is 200,000 pieces. 

The current equipment utilization rate is 70%. Also, if you need metal lathe machining parts for projects, please contact us!