Lathe

A lathe (/leɪð/) is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform
various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, threading and
turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object with symmetry about that
axis.[1]

Modern metal lathe

A watchmaker using a lathe to prepare a

component cut from copper for a watch

Lathes are used in woodturning, metalworking, metal spinning, thermal spraying, reclamation, and
glass-working. Lathes can be used to shape pottery, the best-known design being the Potter's wheel.
Most suitably equipped metalworking lathes can also be used to produce most solids of revolution,
plane surfaces and screw threads or helices. Ornamental lathes can produce three-dimensional
solids of incredible complexity. The workpiece is usually held in place by either one or two centers,
at least one of which can typically be moved horizontally to accommodate varying workpiece
lengths. Other work-holding methods include clamping the work about the axis of rotation using a
chuck or collet, or to a faceplate, using clamps or dog clutch. Of course, lathes can also complete
milling operations by installing special lathe milling fixtures.[2]
Examples of objects that can be produced on a lathe include screws, candlesticks, gun barrels, cue
sticks, table legs, bowls, baseball bats, pens, musical instruments (especially woodwind
instruments), and crankshafts.

History

Lathe turned pillars at

Chennakeshava Temple, Belur

The lathe is an ancient tool. The earliest evidence of a lathe dates back to Ancient Egypt around
1300 BC.[3] There is also tenuous evidence for its existence at a Mycenaean Greek site, dating back
as far as the 13th or 14th century BC.[4]

Clear evidence of turned artifacts have been found from the 6th century BC: fragments of a wooden
bowl in an Etruscan tomb in Northern Italy as well as two flat wooden dishes with decorative turned
rims from modern Turkey.[4]

During the Warring States period in China, c. 400 BC, the ancient Chinese used rotary lathes to
sharpen tools and weapons on an industrial scale.[5]

The first known painting showing a lathe dates to the 3rd century BC in ancient Egypt.[4] Pliny later
describes the use of a lathe for turning soft stone in his Natural History (Book XXX, Chapter 44).
 A craftsman working a chair
leg on a lathe

Precision metal-cutting lathes were developed during the lead up to the Industrial Revolution and
were critical to the manufacture of mechanical inventions of that period. Some of the earliest
examples include a version with a mechanical cutting tool-supporting carriage and a set of gears by
Russian engineer Andrey Nartov in 1718 and another with a slide-rest shown in a 1717 edition of the
French Encyclopédie. The slide-rest was a particularly important development because it constrains
the motion of the cutting tool to generate accurate cylindrical or conical surfaces, unlike earlier
lathes that involved freehand manipulation of the tool.[6]

Exact drawing made with camera

obscura of horizontal boring machine
by Jan Verbruggen in Woolwich Royal
Brass Foundry approx. 1778 (drawing
47 out of set of 50 drawings)

By the 1770s, precision lathes became practical and well-known. A slide-rest is clearly shown in a
1772 edition of the Encyclopédie and during that same year a horse-powered cannon boring lathe
was installed in the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, England by Jan Verbruggen. Cannon bored by
Verbruggen's lathe were stronger and more accurate than their predecessors and saw service in
American Revolutionary War. Henry Maudslay, the inventor of many subsequent improvements to
the lathe worked as an apprentice in Verbruggen's workshop in Woolwich.[7]
During the Industrial Revolution, mechanized power generated by water wheels or steam engines
was transmitted to the lathe via line shafting, allowing faster and easier work. Metalworking lathes
evolved into heavier machines with thicker, more rigid parts. Between the late 19th and mid-20th
centuries, individual electric motors at each lathe replaced line shafting as the power source.
Beginning in the 1950s, servomechanisms were applied to the control of lathes and other machine
tools via numerical control, which often was coupled with computers to yield computerized
numerical control (CNC). Today manually controlled and CNC lathes coexist in the manufacturing
industries.

Design

Components

A metalworking lathe from 1911,

showing component parts:
a. bed

b. carriage (with cross-slide and

tool post)

c. headstock

d. back gear (other gear train

nearby drives lead screw)

e. cone pulley for a belt drive from

an external power source

f. faceplate mounted on spindle

g. tailstock

h. leadscrew

A lathe may or may not have legs, which sit on the floor and elevate the lathe bed to a working
height. A lathe may be small and sit on a workbench or table, not requiring a stand.
Almost all lathes have a bed, which is almost always a horizontal beam, although CNC lathes
commonly have an inclined or vertical beam for a bed to ensure that swarf, or chips, falls free of the
bed. Woodturning lathes specialized for turning large bowls often have no bed or tail stock, merely a
free-standing headstock and a cantilevered tool-rest.

At one end of the bed (almost always the left, as the operator faces the lathe) is a headstock. The
headstock contains high-precision spinning bearings. Rotating within the bearings is a horizontal
axle, with an axis parallel to the bed, called the spindle. Spindles are often hollow and have an
interior Morse taper on the spindle nose (i.e., facing to the right / towards the bed) by which work-
holding accessories may be mounted to the spindle. Spindles may also have arrangements for
work-holding on the left-hand end of the spindle with other tooling arrangements for particular
tasks. (i.e., facing away from the main bed) end, or may have a hand-wheel or other accessory
mechanism on their outboard end. Spindles are powered and impart motion to the workpiece.

The spindle is driven either by foot power from a treadle and flywheel or by a belt or gear drive from
a power source such as electric motor or overhead line shafts. In most modern lathes this power
source is an integral electric motor, often either in the headstock, to the left of the headstock, or
beneath the headstock, concealed in the stand.

In addition to the spindle and its bearings, the headstock often contains parts to convert the motor
speed into various spindle speeds. Various types of speed-changing mechanism achieve this, from
a cone pulley or step pulley, to a cone pulley with back gear (which is essentially a low range, similar
in net effect to the two-speed rear of a truck), to an entire gear train similar to that of a manual-shift
automotive transmission. Some motors have electronic rheostat-type speed controls, which
obviates cone pulleys or gears.

The counterpoint to the headstock is the tailstock, sometimes referred to as the loose head, as it
can be positioned at any convenient point on the bed by sliding it to the required area. The tail-stock
contains a barrel, which does not rotate, but can slide in and out parallel to the axis of the bed and
directly in line with the headstock spindle. The barrel is hollow and usually contains a taper to
facilitate the gripping of various types of tooling. Its most common uses are to hold a hardened
steel center, which is used to support long thin shafts while turning, or to hold drill bits for drilling
axial holes in the work piece. Many other uses are possible.[8]

Metalworking lathes have a carriage (comprising a saddle and apron) topped with a cross-slide,
which is a flat piece that sits crosswise on the bed and can be cranked at right angles to the bed.
Sitting atop the cross slide is usually another slide called a compound rest, which provides two
additional axes of motion, rotary and linear. Atop that sits a toolpost, which holds a cutting tool,
which removes material from the workpiece. There may or may not be a leadscrew, which moves
the cross-slide along the bed.

Woodturning and metal spinning lathes do not have cross-slides, but rather have banjos, which are
flat pieces that sit crosswise on the bed. The position of a banjo can be adjusted by hand; no
gearing is involved. Ascending vertically from the banjo is a tool-post, at the top of which is a
horizontal tool-rest. In woodturning, hand tools are braced against the tool-rest and levered into the
workpiece. In metal spinning, the further pin ascends vertically from the tool-rest and serves as a
fulcrum against which tools may be levered into the workpiece.

Accessories

A steady rest

Unless a workpiece has a taper machined onto it which perfectly matches the internal taper in the
spindle, or has threads which perfectly match the external threads on the spindle (two conditions
which rarely exist), an accessory must be used to mount a workpiece to the spindle.

A workpiece may be bolted or screwed to a faceplate, a large, flat disk that mounts to the spindle. In
the alternative, faceplate dogs may be used to secure the work to the faceplate.

A workpiece may be mounted on a mandrel, or circular work clamped in a three- or four-jaw chuck.
For irregular shaped workpieces it is usual to use a four jaw (independent moving jaws) chuck.
These holding devices mount directly to the lathe headstock spindle.

In precision work, and in some classes of repetition work, cylindrical workpieces are usually held in
a collet inserted into the spindle and secured either by a draw-bar, or by a collet closing cap on the
spindle. Suitable collets may also be used to mount square or hexagonal workpieces. In precision
toolmaking work such collets are usually of the draw-in variety, where, as the collet is tightened, the
workpiece moves slightly back into the headstock, whereas for most repetition work the dead length
variety is preferred, as this ensures that the position of the workpiece does not move as the collet is
tightened.

A soft workpiece (e.g., wood) may be pinched between centers by using a spur drive at the
headstock, which bites into the wood and imparts torque to it.

Running center (top)

Dead center (bottom)

A soft dead center is used in the headstock spindle as the work rotates with the centre. Because the
centre is soft it can be trued in place before use. The included angle is 60°. Traditionally, a hard dead
center is used together with suitable lubricant in the tailstock to support the workpiece. In modern
practice the dead center is frequently replaced by a running center, as it turns freely with the
workpiece—usually on ball bearings—reducing the frictional heat, especially important at high
speeds. When clear facing a long length of material it must be supported at both ends. This can be
achieved by the use of a traveling or fixed steady. If a steady is not available, the end face being
worked on may be supported by a dead (stationary) half center. A half center has a flat surface
machined across a broad section of half of its diameter at the pointed end. A small section of the
tip of the dead center is retained to ensure concentricity. Lubrication must be applied at this point of
contact and tail stock pressure reduced. A lathe carrier or lathe dog may also be employed when
turning between two centers.[9]

In woodturning, one variation of a running center is a cup center, which is a cone of metal
surrounded by an annular ring of metal that decreases the chances of the workpiece splitting.

A circular metal plate with even spaced holes around the periphery, mounted to the spindle, is called
an "index plate". It can be used to rotate the spindle to a precise angle, then lock it in place,
facilitating repeated auxiliary operations done to the workpiece.

Other accessories, including items such as taper turning attachments, knurling tools, vertical slides,
fixed and traveling steadies, etc., increase the versatility of a lathe and the range of work it may
perform.
Modes of use

When a workpiece is fixed between the headstock and the tail-stock, it is said to be "between
centers". When a workpiece is supported at both ends, it is more stable, and more force may be
applied to the workpiece, via tools, at a right angle to the axis of rotation, without fear that the
workpiece may break loose.

When a workpiece is fixed only to the spindle at the headstock end, the work is said to be "face
work". When a workpiece is supported in this manner, less force may be applied to the workpiece,
via tools, at a right angle to the axis of rotation, lest the workpiece rip free. Thus, most work must be
done axially, towards the headstock, or at right angles, but gently.

When a workpiece is mounted with a certain axis of rotation, worked, then remounted with a new
axis of rotation, this is referred to as "eccentric turning" or "multi-axis turning". The result is that
various cross sections of the workpiece are rotationally symmetric, but the workpiece as a whole is
not rotationally symmetric. This technique is used for camshafts, various types of chair legs.

Sizes

Lathes are usually 'sized' by the capacity of the work that they may hold. Usually large work is held
at both ends either using a chuck or other drive in the headstock and a centre in the tailstock. To
maximise size, turning between centres allows the work to be as close to the headstock as possible
and is used to determine the longest piece the lathe will turn: when the base of the tailstock is
aligned with the end of the bed. The distance between centres gives the maximum length of work
the lathe will officially hold. It is possible to get slightly longer items in if the tailstock overhangs the
end of the bed but this is an ill-advised practice. Purchasing an extension or larger bed would be a
wise alternative.

The other dimension of the workpiece is how far off-centre it can be. This is known as the 'swing'
("The distance from the head center of a lathe to the bed or ways, or to the rest. The swing
determines the diametric size of the object which is capable of being turned in the lathe; anything
larger would interfere with the bed. This limit is called the swing of the bed. The swing of the rest is
the size which will rotate above the rest, which lies upon the bed.")[10] from the notion that the work
'swings' from the centre upon which it is mounted. This makes more sense with odd-shaped work
but as the lathe is most often used with cylindrical work, it is useful to know the maximum diameter
of work the lathe will hold. This is simply the value of the swing (or centre height above the bed)
multiplied by two. For some reason, in the U.S. swing is assumed to be diameter but this is
incorrect. To be clear on size, it is better, therefore, to describe the dimension as 'centre height
above the bed'. As parts of the lathe reduce capacity, measurements such as 'swing over cross
slide' or other named parts can be found.

Varieties

The smallest lathes are "jewelers lathes" or "watchmaker lathes", which, though often small enough
to be held in one hand are normally fastened to a bench.[11] There are rare and even smaller mini
lathes made for precision cutting.[12] The workpieces machined on a jeweler's lathe are often metal,
but other softer materials can also be machined. Jeweler's lathes can be used with hand-held
"graver" tools or with a "compound rest" that attach to the lathe bed and allows the tool to be
clamped in place and moved by a screw or lever feed. Graver tools are generally supported by a T-
rest, not fixed to a cross slide or compound rest. The work is usually held in a collet, but high-
precision 3 and 6-jaw chucks are also commonly employed. Common spindle bore sizes are 6 mm,
8 mm and 10 mm. The term WW refers to the Webster/Whitcomb collet and lathe, invented by the
American Watch Tool Company of Waltham, Massachusetts. Most lathes commonly referred to as
watchmakers lathes are of this design. In 1909, the American Watch Tool company introduced the
Magnus type collet (a 10-mm body size collet) using a lathe of the same basic design, the
Webster/Whitcomb Magnus. (F.W.Derbyshire, Inc. retains the trade names Webster/Whitcomb and
Magnus and still produces these collets.[13]) Two bed patterns are common: the WW (Webster
Whitcomb) bed, a truncated triangular prism (found only on 8 and 10 mm watchmakers' lathes); and
the continental D-style bar bed (used on both 6 mm and 8 mm lathes by firms such as Lorch and
Star). Other bed designs have been used, such as a triangular prism on some Boley 6.5 mm lathes,
and a V-edged bed on IME's 8 mm lathes.

Smaller metalworking lathes that are larger than jewelers' lathes and can sit on a bench or table, but
offer such features as tool holders and a screw-cutting gear train are called hobby lathes, and larger
versions, "bench lathes" - this term also commonly applied to a special type of high-precision lathe
used by toolmakers for one-off jobs.[14] Even larger lathes offering similar features for producing or
modifying individual parts are called "engine lathes". Lathes of these types do not have additional
integral features for repetitive production, but rather are used for individual part production or
modification as the primary role.

Lathes of this size that are designed for mass manufacture, but not offering the versatile screw-
cutting capabilities of the engine or bench lathe, are referred to as "second operation" lathes.
Lathes with a very large spindle bore and a chuck on both ends of the spindle are called "oil field
lathes".

Fully automatic mechanical lathes, employing cams and gear trains for controlled movement, are
called screw machines.

Lathes that are controlled by a computer are CNC lathes.

Lathes with the spindle mounted in a vertical configuration, instead of horizontal configuration, are
called vertical lathes or vertical boring machines. They are used where very large diameters must be
turned, and the workpiece (comparatively) is not very long.

A lathe with a tool post that can rotate around a vertical axis, so as to present different tools
towards the headstock (and the workpiece) are turret lathes.[15]

A lathe equipped with indexing plates, profile cutters, spiral or helical guides, etc., so as to enable
ornamental turning is an ornamental lathe.

Various combinations are possible: for example, a vertical lathe can have CNC capabilities as well
(such as a CNC VTL).

Lathes can be combined with other machine tools, such as a drill press or vertical milling machine.
These are usually referred to as combination lathes.

Uses

Woodworking

A modern woodworking lathe

Chess pieces may be manufactured

by way of a lathe.
Woodworking lathes are the oldest variety, apart from pottery wheels. All other varieties are
descended from these simple lathes. An adjustable horizontal metal rail, the tool-rest, between the
material and the operator accommodates the positioning of shaping tools, which are usually hand-
held. After shaping, it is common practice to press and slide sandpaper against the still-spinning
object to smooth the surface made with the metal shaping tools. The tool-rest is usually removed
during sanding, as it may be unsafe to have the operators hands between it and the spinning wood.

Many woodworking lathes can also be used for making bowls and plates. The bowl or plate needs
only to be held at the bottom by one side of the lathe. It is usually attached to a metal face plate
attached to the spindle. With many lathes, this operation happens on the left side of the headstock,
where are no rails and therefore more clearance. In this configuration, the piece can be shaped
inside and out. A specific curved tool-rest may be used to support tools while shaping the inside.
Further detail can be found on the woodturning page.

Most woodworking lathes are designed to be operated at a speed of between 200 and 1,400
revolutions per minute, with slightly over 1,000 rpm considered optimal for most such work, and
with larger workpieces requiring lower speeds.[16]

Duplicating

Water-powered Blanchard lathe used

for duplicating gun stocks from the
1850s. Harpers Ferry Armory.

One type of specialized lathe is duplicating or copying lathe. Some types of them are known as
Blanchard lathe, after Thomas Blanchard. This type of lathe was able to create shapes identical to a
standard pattern and it revolutionized the process of gun stock making in the 1820s when it was
invented.[17]

The Hermitage Museum, Russia displays the copying lathe for ornamental turning: making medals
and guilloche patterns, designed by Andrey Nartov, 1721.[18][19]
Patternmaking

Patternmaker's double lathe

(Carpentry and Joinery, 1925)

Used to make a pattern for foundries, often from wood, but also plastics. A patternmaker's lathe
looks like a heavy wood lathe, often with a turret and either a leadscrew or a rack and pinion to
manually position the turret. The turret is used to accurately cut straight lines. They often have a
provision to turn very large parts on the other end of the headstock, using a free-standing toolrest.
Another way of turning large parts is a sliding bed, which can slide away from the headstock and
thus open up a gap in front of the headstock for large parts.

Metalworking

In a metalworking lathe, metal is removed from the workpiece using a hardened cutting tool, which
is usually fixed to a solid moveable mounting, either a tool-post or a turret, which is then moved
against the workpiece using handwheels or computer-controlled motors. These cutting tools come
in a wide range of sizes and shapes, depending upon their application. Some common styles are
diamond, round, square and triangular.

The tool-post is operated by lead-screws that can accurately position the tool in a variety of planes.
The tool-post may be driven manually or automatically to produce the roughing and finishing cuts
required to turn the workpiece to the desired shape and dimensions, or for cutting threads, worm
gears, etc. Cutting fluid may also be pumped to the cutting site to provide cooling, lubrication and
clearing of swarf from the workpiece. Some lathes may be operated under control of a computer for
mass production of parts (see "Computer numerical control").

Manually controlled metalworking lathes are commonly provided with a variable-ratio gear-train to
drive the main lead-screw. This enables different thread pitches to be cut. On some older lathes or
more affordable new lathes, the gear trains are changed by swapping gears with various numbers of
teeth onto or off of the shafts, while more modern or expensive manually controlled lathes have a
quick-change box to provide commonly used ratios by the operation of a lever. CNC lathes use
computers and servomechanisms to regulate the rates of movement.
On manually controlled lathes, the thread pitches that can be cut are, in some ways, determined by
the pitch of the lead-screw: A lathe with a metric lead-screw will readily cut metric threads (including
BA), while one with an imperial lead-screw will readily cut imperial-unit-based threads such as BSW
or UTS (UNF, UNC). This limitation is not insurmountable, because a 127-tooth gear, called a
transposing gear, is used to translate between metric and inch thread pitches. However, this is
optional equipment that many lathe owners do not own. It is also a larger change-wheel than the
others, and on some lathes may be larger than the change-wheel mounting banjo is capable of
mounting.

The workpiece may be supported between a pair of points called centres, or it may be bolted to a
faceplate or held in a chuck. A chuck has movable jaws that can grip the workpiece securely.

There are some effects on material properties when using a metalworking lathe. There are few
chemical or physical effects, but there are many mechanical effects, which include residual stress,
micro-cracks, work-hardening, and tempering in hardened materials.

Cue lathes

Cue lathes function similarly to turning and spinning lathes, allowing a perfectly radially-symmetrical
cut for billiard cues. They can also be used to refinish cues that have been worn over the years.

Glass-working

Glass-working lathes are similar in design to other lathes, but differ markedly in how the workpiece
is modified. Glass-working lathes slowly rotate a hollow glass vessel over a fixed- or variable-
temperature flame. The source of the flame may be either hand-held or mounted to a banjo/cross-
slide that can be moved along the lathe bed. The flame serves to soften the glass being worked, so
that the glass in a specific area of the workpiece becomes ductile and subject to forming either by
inflation ("glassblowing") or by deformation with a heat-resistant tool. Such lathes usually have two
head-stocks with chucks holding the work, arranged so that they both rotate together in unison. Air
can be introduced through the headstock chuck spindle for glassblowing. The tools to deform the
glass and tubes to blow (inflate) the glass are usually handheld.

In diamond turning, a computer-controlled lathe with a diamond-tipped tool is used to make

precision optical surfaces in glass or other optical materials. Unlike conventional optical grinding,
complex aspheric surfaces can be machined easily. Instead of the dovetailed ways used on the tool
slide of a metal-turning lathe, the ways typically float on air bearings, and the position of the tool is
measured by optical interferometry to achieve the necessary standard of precision for optical work.
The finished work piece usually requires a small amount of subsequent polishing by conventional
techniques to achieve a finished surface suitably smooth for use in a lens, but the rough grinding
time is significantly reduced for complex lenses.

Metal-spinning

In metal spinning, a disk of sheet metal is held perpendicularly to the main axis of the lathe, and
tools with polished tips (spoons) or roller tips are hand-held, but levered by hand against fixed posts,
to develop pressure that deforms the spinning sheet of metal.

Metal-spinning lathes are almost as simple as wood-turning lathes. Typically, metal spinning
requires a mandrel, usually made from wood, which serves as the template onto which the
workpiece is formed (asymmetric shapes can be made, but it is a very advanced technique). For
example, to make a sheet metal bowl, a solid block of wood in the shape of the bowl is required;
similarly, to make a vase, a solid template of the vase is required.

Given the advent of high-speed, high-pressure, industrial die forming, metal spinning is less
common now than it once was, but still a valuable technique for producing one-off prototypes or
small batches, where die forming would be uneconomical.

Ornamental turning

The ornamental turning lathe was developed around the same time as the industrial screw-cutting
lathe in the nineteenth century. It was used not for making practical objects, but for decorative work:
ornamental turning. By using accessories such as the horizontal and vertical cutting frames,
eccentric chuck and elliptical chuck, solids of extraordinary complexity may be produced by various
generative procedures.

A special-purpose lathe, the Rose engine lathe, is also used for ornamental turning, in particular for
engine turning, typically in precious metals, for example to decorate pocket-watch cases. As well as
a wide range of accessories, these lathes usually have complex dividing arrangements to allow the
exact rotation of the mandrel. Cutting is usually carried out by rotating cutters, rather than directly
by the rotation of the work itself. Because of the difficulty of polishing such work, the materials
turned, such as wood or ivory, are usually quite soft, and the cutter has to be exceptionally sharp.
The finest ornamental lathes are generally considered to be those made by Holtzapffel around the
turn of the 19th century.
Reducing

Many types of lathes can be equipped with accessory components to allow them to reproduce an
item: the original item is mounted on one spindle, the blank is mounted on another, and as both turn
in synchronized manner, one end of an arm "reads" the original and the other end of the arm "carves"
the duplicate.

A reduction lathe is a specialized lathe that is designed with this feature and incorporates a
mechanism similar to a pantograph, so that when the "reading" end of the arm reads a detail that
measures one inch (for example), the cutting end of the arm creates an analogous detail that is (for
example) one quarter of an inch (a 4:1 reduction, although given appropriate machinery and
appropriate settings, any reduction ratio is possible).

Reducing lathes are used in coin-making, where a plaster original (or an epoxy master made from
the plaster original, or a copper-shelled master made from the plaster original, etc.) is duplicated
and reduced on the reducing lathe, generating a master die.

Rotary lathes

A lathe in which wood logs are turned against a very sharp blade and peeled off in one continuous
or semi-continuous roll. Invented by Immanuel Nobel (father of the more famous Alfred Nobel). The
first such lathes in the United States were set up in the mid-19th century. The product is called wood
veneer and it is used for making plywood and as a cosmetic surface veneer on some grades of
chipboard.

Watchmaking

Watchmakers lathes are delicate but precise metalworking lathes, usually without provision for
screwcutting, and are still used by horologists for work such as the turning of balance staffs. A
handheld tool called a graver, supported by a tool-rest, is often used in preference to a slide-
mounted tool. The original watchmaker's turns was a simple dead-center lathe with a moveable rest
and two loose head-stocks. The workpiece would be rotated by a bow, typically of horsehair,
wrapped around it.
Transcription or recording

Transcription or recording lathes are used to make grooves on a surface for recording sounds.
These were used in creating sound grooves on wax cylinders and then on flat recording discs
originally also made of wax, but later as lacquers on a substratum. Originally the cutting lathes were
driven by sound vibrations through a horn in a process known as acoustic recording and later driven
by an electric current when microphones were first used in sound recording. Many such lathes were
professional models, but others were developed for home recording and were common before the
advent of home tape recording.

Performance

National and international standards are used to standardize the definitions, environmental
requirements, and test methods used for the performance evaluation of lathes. Election of the
standard to be used is an agreement between the supplier and the user and has some significance
in the design of the lathe. In the United States, ASME has developed the B5.57 Standard entitled
"Methods for Performance Evaluation of Computer Numerically Controlled Lathes and Turning
Centers", which establishes requirements and methods for specifying and testing the performance
of CNC lathes and turning centers.[20]

See also

Diamond turning

Gun drill

Mandrel

Segmented turning

Solid of revolution

Unimat

References

1. Lathes (http://uhv.cheme.cmu.edu/procedures/machining/ch7.pdf) in Chapter 7 of US Army

Training Circulation published in 1996 (Chemical Engineering Department, Carnegie Mellon
University website)
 2. TC 9-524, Chapter 7. "LATHES" (http://uhv.cheme.cmu.edu/procedures/machining/ch7.pdf)
(PDF). Carnegie Mellon University.

3. M. Oats, Joclyn (2021). An Illustrated Guide to Furniture History (https://books.google.com/boo

ks?id=0_kvEAAAQBAJ&q=Earliest+woodworking+lathe) . Routledge. ISBN 9781000406108.

4. Clifford, Brian. "A brief history of woodturning" (http://www.turningtools.co.uk.wgo.ca/history2/

history-turning2.html) . The Woodturner's Workshop. Woodturners' Guild of Ontario. Retrieved
2018-07-24.

5. Emperor's Ghost Army (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/emperors-ghost-army.html)

(Documentary). PBS. Event occurs at 26:00. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201601150
23141/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/emperors-ghost-army.html) from the original
on 2016-01-15.

6. Roe, Joseph Wickham (1916), English and American Tool Builders (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=X-EJAAAAIAAJ) , New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, LCCN 16011753 (h
ttps://lccn.loc.gov/16011753) . Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926
(LCCN 27-24075 (https://www.loc.gov/item/27024075) ); and by Lindsay Publications, Inc.,
Bradley, Illinois, (ISBN 978-0-917914-73-7).

7. Tomiyama, Tetsuo (2016-02-16). "Development of Production Technology and Machine Tools

(presentation notes)" (https://ocw.tudelft.nl/wp-content/uploads/ED2011_2_Fabrikagetechnol
ogie.pdf) (PDF). OpenCourseWare: TUDelft. TUDelft. pp. 18–21. Archived (https://web.archive.
org/web/20180725054610/https://ocw.tudelft.nl/wp-content/uploads/ED2011_2_Fabrikagete
chnologie.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 2018-07-25. Retrieved 2018-07-24. Tomiyama,
Tetsuo (2011). 02. Ontwikkeling Fabricagetechnologie (https://ocw.tudelft.nl/course-lectures/2-
ontwikkeling-fabricagetechnologie/) [02. Development of Manufacturing Technology]
(Lecture). Delft, Netherlands: TUDelft.

8. Ruttan, Howard. "Wait a minute..." (https://web.archive.org/web/20090108083244/http://www.i

nthewoodshop.org/methods/trlathe.shtml) Archived from the original (http://www.inthewood
shop.org/methods/trlathe.shtml) on 2009-01-08.

9. "Hints & Tips for Using a Lathe" (http://www.lathes.co.uk/page13.html) . “George Wilson’s”

Hints and Tips. Lathes.co.uk. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20101201073248/http://
www.lathes.co.uk/page13.html) from the original on 1 December 2010. Retrieved
29 November 2010.

10. Knight, Edward H. (1875). The Practical Dictionary of Mechanics. London / U.S.: Cassell & co /
Houghton Mifflin. p. 2469 Mechanicalminds.org (https://Mechanicalminds.org) .
11. Watchmaking Lathes (https://www.csparks.com/watchmaking/Lathes.html) page by an
amateur, describing and showing jewelers and watchmaker lathes and there usage (Sparks
Communication website)

12. Dennis Normile, Tokyo (2001-07-16). "The smallest micro lathe, made by researchers in Tokyo,
Japan" (https://web.archive.org/web/20191104014707/https://www.designnews.com/automa
tion-motion-control/tiny-lathe-produces-micro-parts/97554728735712) . designnews.com.
Archived from the original (https://www.designnews.com/automation-motion-control/tiny-lath
e-produces-micro-parts/97554728735712) on 2019-11-04. Retrieved 2007-06-07.

13. Trade names (https://www.mmsonline.com/suppliers/fw-derbyshire) on the F.W. Derbyshire

company website

14. Griffiths, Tony. "Makers of "Bench Precision" Lathes" (http://www.lathes.co.uk/precision-bench-

lathes-list) . LATHES.CO.UK. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20171227132348/http://
www.lathes.co.uk/precision-bench-lathes-list/) from the original on 27 December 2017.
Retrieved 5 February 2018.

15. Parker, Dana T. Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II, p.
81, 123, Cypress, CA, 2013. ISBN 978-0-9897906-0-4.

16. Ernie Conover (2000), Turn a Bowl with Ernie Conover: Getting Great Results the First Time
Around (https://books.google.com/books?id=YNGOirjO8NgC&pg=PA16) , Taunton, p. 16,
ISBN 978-1-56158-293-8

17. Smith, Merritt Roe (2015). Harpers Ferry Armory and the New Technology: The Challenge of
Change (https://books.google.com/books?id=D_RqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PP1) . Cornell University
Press. ISBN 9780801454394. Retrieved 30 June 2016.

18. "Ornamental Turning - Turners of the Early Modern Period in Russia" (https://ornamentalturnin
g.net/early_modern_russia_turners.html) . ornamentalturning.net.

19. Book review of: Nartov and his Theatrum Machinarium (translated from Russian in 1966);
doi:10.2307/3102014 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F3102014) , JSTOR 3102014 (https://www.j
stor.org/stable/3102014)

20. "Methods for Performance Evaluation of Computer Numerically Controlled Lathes and Turning
Centers" (https://www.asme.org/products/codes-standards/b557-2012-methods-performance
-evaluation-computer) . asme.org. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Archived (h
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20171107023935/https://www.asme.org/products/codes-standar
ds/b557-2012-methods-performance-evaluation-computer) from the original on 7 November
2017. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
Further reading

Holtzapffel, Charles (1843–1897). Turning and Mechanical Manipulation Volume V.

Marlow, Frank (2008). Machine Shop Essentials: Q & A. Metal Arts Press. ISBN 978-0-9759963-3-1.

Oscar E. Perrigo. Modern American Lathe Practice. A New, Complete and Practical Work on the "king
of Machine Shop Tools." (https://archive.org/details/lathedesignconst00perrrich) , 1907.

Raffan, Richard (2001). Turning Wood With Richard Raffan. Taunton. ISBN 1-56158-417-7.

Joshua Rose. The Complete Practical Machinist: Embracing Lathe Work, Vise Work, Drills, etc. (http
s://archive.org/details/completepractic01rosegoog) , Philadelphia: H.C. Baird & Co., 1876; 2nd ed.
1885 (https://archive.org/details/completepractic00rosegoog) .

Sparey, Lawrence (1947). The Amateur's Lathe. Special Interest Model Books. ISBN 0-85242-288-
1.

Woodbury, Robert S (1961). History of the Lathe to 1850 (https://archive.org/details/historyoflathe

to00robe) . Cleveland, Ohio: Society for the History of Technology. ISBN 978-0-262-73004-4.

Bray, Stan (2004). The compact lathe (2nd rev. ed.). Poole: Special Interest Model Books.
ISBN 1854862278. OCLC 63184337 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/63184337) .

External links

Lathe Machine Operations (https://www.theengineerspost.com/lathe-machine-operations/)

Machine Tool Archive (http://lathes.co.uk/page21.html)

Early Wood-Working (http://www.regia.org/woodwork.htm)

Spring pole lathe (http://www.historicgames.com/lathes/springpole.html)

Modern Machine Shop Practice (http://digital.lib.msu.edu/collections/index.cfm?TitleID=274) a

historic Victorian text describing lathe design, construction and use in the 1880s.

"The Forgotten Power Tool." (https://books.google.com/books?id=wyoDAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular

+science+1930&pg=PA149) Popular Science, December 1959, pp. 149–152.

Disc Cutting and Recording Lathes (http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/recording.technology.histor

y/lathe.html)

History of the Lathe (https://stuartking.co.uk/history-of-the-lathe-part-one-reciprocal-motion/)