LATHE Main parts of a lathe

Lathe is considered as one of the oldest machine tools and is widely used in industries.
It is called as mother of machine tools. It is said that the first screw cutting lathe was
developed by an Englishman named Henry Maudslay in the year 1797. Modern high speed,
heavy duty lathes are developed based on this machine.
The primary task of a lathe is to generate cylindrical workpieces. The process of
machining a workpiece to the required shape and size by moving the cutting tool either
parallel or perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the workpiece is known as turning. In this
process, excess unwanted metal is removed. The machine tool useful in performing plain
turning, taper turning, thread cutting, chamfering and knurling by adopting the above
method is known as lathe.


Main parts of a lathe
Every individual part performs an important task in a lathe. Some important parts of a
lathe are listed below
1. Bed
2. Headstock
3. Spindle
4. Tailstock
5. Carriage
a. Saddle
b. Apron
c. Cross-slide
d. Compound rest
e. Compound slide
f. Tool post
6. Feed mechanism
7. Leadscrew
8. Feed rod
9. Thread cutting mechanism