Still more CNC lathe tips
Following the theme of the past two Shop Operations columns, here are some additional tips and tricks for operating a CNC lathe.
Author
Tom Lipton
Tom Lipton is a career metalworker from the San Francisco Bay area who has worked at various job shops. For more information, visit his blog and YouTube video channel.
More tips for operating a CNC lathe
Shop Operations Columnist Tom Lipton offers additional tips for operating a CNC lathe in the February 2014 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering magazine.
Programming a CNC lathe
A typical CNC lathe program is quite short compared to some of the mammoth CAM-generated programs for milling machines. Here are some tips and tricks to programming a CNC lathe.
When to choose a CNC lathe for a job
Like many in the industry, when I started in the machining world it was on a manual lathe. I have a special place in my heart for lathes. That includes CNC lathes, the next step up for aspiring machinists. In my experience, I have found there is a lopsided ratio of CNC mill machinists to CNC lathe machinists, with about 10 times as many being mill machinists. My theory is this is partly because the CNC lathe is more difficult to operate.
Go fly away: a summer story
During the summer, writes the Shop Operations columnist in the October 2013 issue of Cutting Tool Engineering, it gets pretty hot in a shop that's not air conditioned. With sweat running down my semibald head, I was trying to get a part set up in a CNC lathe. This particular part was giving me some trouble because of a tool compensation problem. I was hot and frustrated.
Machining the ‘unmachinable’
Tom Lipton, the author of Cutting Tool Engineering's Shop Operations column, shares a trick he learned that reveals an interesting use of relatively crash-proof soft metal or plastic bed plates on a milling machine.
Even more tips for operating a CNC mill
Continuing the theme of the previous three columns, here are additional tips for enhancing the operation of a CNC milling machine from Shop Operations columnist Tom Lipton.
Still more tips for operating a CNC mill
The Shop Operations column suggests that you should use every tool, trick and option at your disposal to get jobs out the door as quickly as possible because speed and momentum reduce costs when applied to part processing.
More tips for operating a CNC mill
Shop Operations columnist Tom Lipton offers additional tips for operating a CNC milling machine.
Tips for operating a CNC mill
Shop Operations columnist Tom Lipton offers tips for operating a CNC mill.
Working with CNC equipment
Anybody with half a brain can immediately see the usefulness of computer-controlled equipment. The ability of a machine to telescope the work processes so they run in parallel instead of series can turn a single machinist into a one-person army.
Generating spherical surfaces
A unique manual milling method is available for generating geometrically true spherical surfaces. This technique can be used to machine convex and concave spherical surfaces. Other than the milling machine, the only tools needed are a boring head and a rotary table.