The lathe machine has five different components – the headstock; tail stock; cutting tools, such as the gouge, skew chisel, round chisel, narrower spear and the finishing utensils; carriage and spindle.

Lathes are tools that are utilized to shape or smooth wooden objects. A lathe craftsman or machinist will use a lathe to customize and create wood products. Lathes can carve designs into wood and make tables,chair legs, cue sticks, baseball bats and any wood items into a cylindrical shape. Lathes are also available that are designed for working on other materials, such as glass and different metals. It is useful to know the different parts of the lathe machine in order to be able to operate it properly and to know when it needs spindle repair and other maintenance works.

The Headstock Component

The upper end of the spindle is held in place and anchored by the headstock on the lathe machine. It also houses the motor that rotates the wood. The way in which you adjust the speed of the spindle is to use a number of pulleys you can find in the back of the headstock. The wood piece stays in place even while the spindle spins due to a chuck or high-tension spring that steadies it.

The Tailstock unit

A lathe machine is a centered mechanism that is attached to the piece of wood, and that is held in place by a tailstock. The center can turn with the wood or stay in one place. Within the rotating device or live center are bearings that permit movement.

Both cutting tools (gauge and chisel), finishing tools and spear

Depending on your project and the cutting tool needed, you can choose from different attachments to your lathe machine. For removing the extra wood we use gauge tool. A skew chisel is utilized to create more intricate carved features. Finer details are made using round chisels and narrower spears. The wood finishing tools have round edges in order to protect wood from slicing..

Carriage Component

The lathe’s cutting tool is steadied by the carriage, giving the craftsmen the freedom to do his work. The carriage consists of five different components, which include the compound rest, cross-slide, apron, tool rest and saddle. These components function in conjunction to allow the cutting tool to be used to slide into place.

Spindle mechanism

There is a trio of configurations for lathe spindles. The threaded, tapered and cam-lock configurations are the three that mainly concern us here. Attaching the chuck to a threaded model is complex, as the threaded model’s configuration is old and the model doesn’t have a taper Cam-lock spindles slides into a ring of similar holes and contain cam studs on one end. When you turn the chuck key, the studs will be locked into place. The third configuration, the tapered spindle, narrows at the tip and has a threaded collar with a built-in chuck key.

The job of a craftsman in making the wood products has come down remarkably due to the introduction of lathe machines. Lathe machines also provide craftsmen with more precise results.

Author Bio: You will get all the required support for your lathe machine and to its parts, including information about spindle repair at: http://www.motorcityrepair.com/SpindleRepair.html.

Category: Automotive
Keywords: spindle repair