 Welcome to Engine Lath Basic Components in Operation. In this learning activity, you'll explore the Engine Lath, its basic components, and you'll learn to operate its machine controls. Let's begin with the main components of the Engine Lath. The five main parts are the bed, the headstock, the carriage, the tailstock, and the gearbox. The bed is the large casting that supports and aligns the components. It's the backbone of the lathe. The bed ways, or ways, are the precision machine surfaces that sit on top of the bed. These align all of the components. It's critical to maintain the condition and accuracy of the bed ways. The rack, or gear rack, as it's sometimes referred to, attaches to the bed. The rack links the pinion gear that's attached to the carriage hand wheel. This makes the longitudinal movements of the carriage possible. The headstock houses the spindle and the components that drive the spindle and the feed gears. The spindle holds and drives the workpiece. The headstock also houses the change or end gears. Power from the headstock to the gearbox transmits through the end gear terrain to the feed rod and the lead screw. The size and positioning of the end gears creates a ratio that controls the feed rate. The feed rod transmits power from the headstock to the carriage for feeding operations. The lead screw transmits power from the headstock to the carriage for screw thread cutting operations. On some lesser types of lathe, the feed rod and the lead screw are used for both the feed and the thread cutting power transmission. The carriage houses the saddle, the cross slide and the apron. The main function of the carriage is to position the tool along the lathe bed. The saddle sits on top of the apron. It rides along the bed ways and guides the apron and cross slide. The apron houses the components to control and drive the cross slide and the saddle. The apron rides along the bed ways. The cross slide controls the axis direction opposite of the bed ways. This axis is the x-axis. It controls the diameter of your work. The compound rest sits on top of the cross slide. The tool is mounted in the compound rest. It can be swiveled to any angle and it typically cuts chamfers or tapers. However, it must be used when cutting threads. You can only feed the compound rest by hand because there is no power to it. The cross slide hand wheel allows you to manually position and or hand feed the compound rest in the x-axis. The carriage hand wheel allows you to manually position and or hand feed the carriage in the longitudinal or z-axis. The tailstock supports the right end of the work. The tailstock also holds tools for machining operations such as drilling, reaming and tapping. The tailstock is made up of a two-piece casting. The lower part, the base, clamps to the ways. You can adjust the upper part using the set screw. Adjustments can be made to turn slight tapers or for aligning the tailstock to the headstock. Lath operation. The main power switch supplies power to the machine. The emergency stop button turns off the power to the machine motor. The motor start button starts the electric drive motor for the machine. While it doesn't control the spindle, it does supply the power. The spindle speed selector allows the operator to adjust the machine's spindle speed. The quick change gearbox provides all of the thread and feed settings through a series of gears. You can see the gear settings on the data plates. These provide the lever settings and the end gear combinations. The spindle clutch and brake lever controls the spindle rotation. You can use this lever to control the spindle direction, spindle on and spindle off. On some machines, a magnetic brake turns off the spindle. To turn the spindle in the forward direction, push down on the spindle clutch. To turn the spindle in the reverse direction, pull up on the spindle clutch. Placing the spindle clutch in the middle position applies the brake. Some lathe styles have a foot operated brake. The power feed lever controls the automatic movement of the axes. The two axes of movement associated with the lathe are the Z and the X axes. The Z axis is the longitudinal axis, while the X axis is the cross slide axis. Feed axis selector allows you to select the axis to send the power to. If you want to feed along the Z axis, push the selector all the way in. If you wanted to power feed the cross slide, pull the selector all the way out. Use the neutral or middle position for threading. The feed direction lever or feed reverse lever controls the direction of lead and feed screws. To change the direction of the automatic feed on the lathe, change the position of the feed direction lever. Placing the saddle lubrication handle pressurizes the lubrication system and pumps oil to the lodge and tutanel and cross slides. The half nut lever engages the carriage directly to the lead screw. It's only used for threading. Also, the half nut lever only engages when the feed is set in the neutral position. The thread chasing dial is used for threading. It works off the lead screw and is used as a tracking device. The dial tells you when to engage the half nut lever so the tool follows the same thread groove every time. The carriage lock bolt tightens the carriage to the bed of the machine. It's typically used during facing, grooving, or parting operations. The Gibbs screw takes up clearance between the gib and the dovetail. This clearance occurs normally due to wear. Most lathe have similar control mechanisms and operating handles. However, some machines have entirely different driving mechanisms. Before using any lathe, make sure you can correctly identify all of the controls and understand how they work. You've completed engine lathe, basic components, and operation.