The difference between CNC lathe and turning center

CNC lathes can be divided into two categories: horizontal and vertical. Horizontal lathes have two types: horizontal guide rails and inclined guide rails. Higher-grade CNC sleeping cars generally use inclined guide rails. According to the number of tool holders, it can be divided into single tool holder CNC lathes and double tool holder CNC lathes. The former is controlled by two coordinates, and the latter is controlled by 4 coordinates. Most double-tool turret sleeping cars use inclined guide rails.

CNC Lathe vs Turning Center?CNC lathes, like ordinary lathes, are also used to process the rotating surface of parts. Generally, it can automatically complete the processing of outer cylindrical surfaces, conical surfaces, spherical surfaces and threads, and can also process some complex rotating surfaces, such as hyperboloids, etc. The workpiece installation methods of lathes and ordinary lathes are basically the same. In order to improve processing efficiency, CNC lathes mostly use hydraulic, pneumatic and electric chucks.

The appearance of a CNC lathe is similar to that of an ordinary lathe, that is, it consists of a bed, a spindle box, a tool rest, a feed system, a cooling and lubrication system, and other parts. The feed system of CNC lathes is qualitatively different from ordinary lathes. Traditional ordinary lathes have a feed box and an exchange gear rack, while swiss screw machine products lathes directly use a servo motor to drive the slide plate and tool holder through a ball screw to achieve the feed movement. The structure of the feeding system is greatly simplified.

There are many types of CNC lathes with different specifications, which can be classified as follows.

Classification by lathe spindle position

• (1) Vertical CNC lathe Vertical CNC lathe is referred to as CNC vertical lathe. Its lathe spindle is perpendicular to the horizontal plane and a circular workbench with a large diameter is used to clamp workpieces. This type of machine tool is mainly used to process large and complex parts with large radial dimensions and relatively small axial dimensions.
• (2) Horizontal CNC lathes Horizontal CNC lathes are further divided into CNC horizontal guide horizontal lathes and CNC inclined guide horizontal lathes. Its inclined guide rail structure can make the lathe more rigid and make it easier to remove chips.

Classification by basic types of processed parts

• (1) Chuck type CNC lathe. This type of lathe does not have a tailstock and is suitable for turning disc type (including short shaft type) parts. The clamping method is mostly electric or hydraulically controlled, and the chuck structure mostly has adjustable jaws or non-quenching jaws (i.e. soft jaws).
• (2) Top-type CNC lathes. These lathes are equipped with ordinary tailstocks or CNC tailstocks and are suitable for turning long parts and disc parts with not too large diameters.

Classification by number of tool holders

• (1) Single tool post CNC lathe CNC lathes are generally equipped with various forms of single tool post, such as four-station horizontal indexing tool post or multi-station turret automatic indexing tool post.
• (2) Double tool turret CNC lathe. The double tool turrets of this kind of lathe are arranged in parallel distribution, or they can be distributed perpendicularly to each other.

Classification by function

• (1) The economical CNC lathe uses a stepper motor and a single-chip microcomputer to modify the feed system of an ordinary lathe. It is a simple CNC lathe with lower cost, but poor automation and functions, and low turning accuracy. Suitable for turning of rotary parts with low requirements.
• (2) Ordinary CNC lathes are specially designed in structure according to the requirements of turning processing and are equipped with a universal CNC system. The CNC system has strong functions, high degree of automation and processing accuracy, and is suitable for turning general rotary parts. . This CNC lathe can control two coordinate axes at the same time, namely the X-axis and the Z-axis.
• (3) On the basis of ordinary CNC lathes, machined parts online turning machining centers add a C-axis and a power head. More advanced CNC lathes have tool magazines that can control the three coordinate axes of X, Z and C. The linkage control axis can be ( X, Z), (X, C) or (Z, C). Due to the addition of the C-axis and milling power head, the processing functions of this CNC lathe have been greatly enhanced. In addition to general turning, it can also perform radial and axial milling, curved surface milling, holes whose centerline is not in the rotation center of the part, and radial holes. drilling and other processing,

Other classification methods

According to the different control methods of the CNC system and other indicators, CNC lathes can be divided into many types, such as linear control CNC lathes, two-spindle control CNC lathes, etc.; according to special or specialized process performance, they can be divided into thread CNC lathes, piston CNC lathes, and crankshaft CNC lathes. And many more.