What is a Swiss Style Lathe?



A Swiss Lathe is a type of lathe whereby the holding mechanism or collet is recessed behind the guide bushing. The Swiss lathes are also commonly known as Swiss screw machines, Swiss automatic lathes, or Swiss turning centers. The Swiss lathe differs from the traditional lathes in the way that the holding mechanism or collet that holds a bar stock will not be exposed directly to the lathe bed and the tooling. This particular configuration provides this specific machine tool a number of benefits over the traditional type lathes.Get more news about Swiss-type Lathe Machining,you can vist our website!

In conventional lathes which feature fixed headstocks, a work piece will be held in the collet or chuck which will either extend into the enclosure of the machine in the form of a cantilever. The other way is that it will be supported on the one end with a tailstock. The distinguishing factors of the Swiss machines to other types are the fact that the headstock moves.This means that the bar-stock will pass through the chucking collet
positioned in the area of the headstock that it will be clamped onto.This bar then emerges in the tooling-area through the guide bushing that locates this bar radially while machining. This headstock then moves in
a precise back-and-forth motion in a z-direction while taking the bar along with it.Turning tools that are carried on the gang slides will make contact with this bar in close proximity to the guide bushing. The bar’s motion
offers the feed required for the cutting action. The gang slides will carry the holders for the fixed single-point tools or any of the other tools and can even support the live tooling. Many of these machines use back-working tool stations and secondary spindles and in some cases a turret or more that is able to carry additional tools.
The Swiss CNC automatics are recognized as the modern and latest thing, however, the former mechanical machines have been used for over a century. In the era of the 1800’s industrialization increased which
resulted in the need for parts that were interchangeable that were manufactured with precision. The inventors of this time developed the necessary technologies to assist in meeting up with these demands.

In 1870 the collet-chuck was patented which allowed for the use of the bar stock. Shortly after this, the very first of the “moving”headstock machines were created in Switzerland. The machines were named Swiss-type screw machines that were used mainly in watch-making industries.

Around the 1960s these Swiss machines started to be used in many other industries and by the 1970’s the first CNC versions were released.As time went by the tooling-area choices started to include the gang
slides and turrets, secondary spindles and live tooling. In the 1980’s Swiss machines began to be used extensively for the production of parts for the electronic and semiconductor industries.

In the 1990s improvements were made on the design of the controls and servomotors that resulted in more advanced, faster and stronger machines in order to produce parts for aerospace and medical applications over and above the typical machining work.