Used Lathes

Lathes are machines to produce “turnings” generally used in the furniture or stair railing industries. Lathes can be totally manual or can be fully automated with CNC controls. The more simple lathes simply rotate the work piece while a single gouging knife following a shaped jig is transported along the length of the component shaping it to match the jig shape. More productive lathes operate on a rotating turret where the rotating components are first roughed and then finished at subsequent stations. This allows higher production without vibration. There are also high production lathes where the knives are rotating and shape slowly rotating components which move past them. More sophisticated lathes produce multi sided spindles as well as symmetrical round shapes. There are also carving lathes that produce non-symmetrical shaped components like “Queen Anne” or other furniture legs and components, axe handles, etc... Some more productive lathes produce multiple components at the same time.