Search results
UK Industrial Lathe Supplier.
A lathe is a machine tool that is used primarily for shaping metal or other materials such as wood. The machine rotates the workpiece whilst a stationary cutting tool then removes material as required. Turning, as its known, is a popular operation in hobby workshops through to large scale industrial applications.
These lathes have been developed over the years and cover many specialist applications. Whilst the standard manual machine is still widely used, CNC Teach lathes and the hi production CNC turning centres are in most production companies now.
RK International have supplied turning machines for metal for many, many years and specialise in all aspects of manual and CNC machine tools.
Lets look at some simple information on what lathe you might need.
Manual Machine:
Are you looking for simple manual turning of one-off jobs? If so then you need a couple of basics to see what size you need. These basic measurements will pretty much work across the whole range of metalworking lathes.
- What 'swing over bed' do you need, and what is you maximum diameter you want to work with?
- How long is the work going to be? i.e. what 'distance between centres' will be required?
Once that's established and we look at chuck sizes needed, or spindle bore requirements, we can quote a new EUROPA VS machine, or something suitable from the used range we have in.
CNC - Teach Lathes:
These machines can be based on their manual equivalent but fitted with a level of CNC automation. These can be controlled by various systems such as Fanuc, and a popular example would be the Romi C Series or Harrison Alpha range.
Common options on these would be 2 axis or 3 axis, driven tooling and hydraulic or electric turrets to have the ability to change tools during a programme. If the 2 axis machine was fitted with a QCTP (Quick Change Tool Post), then the CNC cycle would stop when a different tool is needed. This allows the operator to change the tool and press the start button to continue.
CNC - Turning Centres:
These machine take the simple lathe to a whole new level. There are so many options available to create a turning centre that can be fed with material and run very longs shifts unattended.
Some of the options on these are listed below, and this is where you need to call us on 01322 447611 to discuss your needs!
Barfeed - just as it sounds, this device hold lengths of bar ready to auto feed into the CNC machine as an when it need to start a new part.
Parts Catcher - again a simple device that catches the finished components when they have been parted off the bar.
Tool Presetter - These can be automatic or manually operated to record tool offset measurements.
Swarf Conveyor - Production machine tend to generate a lot of waste and this unit will do its best to take it out of the machine and drop into a swarf bin ready to be recycled.
Fill in the form and lets see what we can do for you!
