Have you been in a machine shop? Let's look at what equipments a shop might be equipped with. The Engine Lathe is one of the most useful and necessary machines in a shop. The major function of the engine lathe is to change the size, shape or finish of a revolving work piece with various cutting tools.
The lathes in the shop consist of a headstock, tailstock, carriage and bed. The headstock encloses the spindle and motor, along with any gears and pulleys used to change the spindle speed. The tailstock is used for drilling, reaming, tapping, threading and centering parts. The carriage contains levers, clutches, and gears that control its movement either by hand or by power feed.
Bandsaws are often the most efficient metal removal machine tools in the shop. Most materials, from wood and plastics to aluminum and steel, can be cut on the bandsaws in the shop. Vertical bandsaws, also known as contour saws, perform metal removal jobs that save time and material. Large sheets and bars of material can be cut to size or shape without creating too many chips in a short period of time.
Pedestal grinders are used to sharpen high speed steel cutting tools used on the lathes and milling machines. Surface grinders and sanders are used to remove surface imperfections and to work extremely hard materials. The abrasive wheels are made from an abrasive medium (usually aluminum oxide or silicon carbide) held together by a vitrified (glass) bond.
The drill press is one of the most frequently used machine tools. They are used mainly for drilling holes but reaming, countersinking, and boring can also be accomplished with the drill press. Parts being machined with the drill press must either be in a vise or clamped to the table. A piece of plywood must be used under parts that are clamped to the table. This prevents drilling into the table top.
The milling machine uses a rotating milling cutter to produce machined surfaces by progressively removing material from a work piece. The vertical milling machine also can function like a drill press because the spindle is perpendicular to the table and can be lowered into the work piece. It is hard to say what the most important accessory for a milling machine is. But certainly the boring head must rank highly in importance for it.
What makes it so important is that it provides a means of accurately machining almost any size hole. It would be very impractical to own drills and reamers for all the possible hole sizes up to 1.75" (44mm) in diameter. Another point to consider is the fact that larger diameter drills and reamers could not be adapted to fit on a miniature size machine tool.
They are unnecessary too, because the boring head is infinitely adjustable so it can machine all of these holes. It is also capable of machining stepped holes for seat bearings and internal grooves for lock rings. Boring tools cut like lathe boring tools with the difference being the tool moves rather than the work.
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