Types of turning methods

Before we seriously discuss the introduction of lathes and how they work, it might not be bad to have a short introduction of various lathe methods, which naturally leads us to more interesting and complete information. From long ago, turning methods are divided into three categories:

It is known as the most traditional and oldest method of turning, which has been used since the past to work on stone and wood to make basic equipment. This method is not very useful for metals and equipment such as glasses, and maybe it is partially used to create some patterns in them. Today we see a limited use of this turning method and it has no industrial application.

This turning method is done with various devices such as CNC machine, an important part of which is under computer control and automatically. In terms of security, work speed, precision, quality of turning and sales, we can introduce this method as the best option, which is used both in industrial and non-industrial sectors. Automatic turning is used in various fields such as stone turning, wood turning, glass turning, metal turning and similar cases.

It is a combination of manual turning and automatic turning, where the cutting part is under the control of an automatic cutting tool such as a motor, and the movement part is under the control of a technician and a person. The use of these devices is more than the manual methods, and perhaps the most famous of them are the milling machine and the drill machine. These devices are the best possible choice for those who are looking to start a low-cost business in the field of turning.

As mentioned, the basic principles are the same in all cutting machines and they all follow a certain pattern. But due to the changes that occur in the movement process of the axes and also the changes that may be seen in the cutting tool, these devices are used for different roles. So if we want to put lathe machines in different groups: we have the following four groups:

This device is the most popular option for working on heavy parts and large parts. It is very difficult to move these parts horizontally, and for this reason, they are usually used in fixed form. The working process of vertical in-chip devices is that the part is placed on the table and the cutting tool performs the cutting process in a vertical reciprocating movement. According to our needs, the movement of the device may be done along the perpendicular axis of rotation of the workpiece or parallel to it, but in the end, the outline of the work is in the form of a cutting tool and a cutting pen.

In this method, the workpiece is kept horizontally and a cutting tool is used to create an internal hole. These machines are suitable for cutting large non-cylindrical workpieces and are usually a better choice for light projects. In this method, the work piece is kept fixed and all movement is carried out by the axes and cutting tools of the machine. Therefore, the machine may empty the inner space of the work sample in the form of circular cuts or square cuts, and the work piece remains fixed throughout the work.

The lathe machine is used to work on the surface of the sample and does not enter the interior in any way. These devices have a basic linear reciprocating motion that may give us different results. Some of them simply act like a grater and grind the surface of the workpiece. But in CNC lathes, it is possible to have even more complex engravings such as marking on the work piece and to use the machine for more complex lathes.