Horizontal Lathe for Sale

What is a Horizontal Lathe?

Horizontal lathes are the main factory piece-making machines. With its horizontally installed spindle, it is employed for precise turning of metals, plastics, and wood at fixed speeds, allowing you to achieve perfect dimension accuracy and surface finish.

Working Principle of Horizontal Lathes

In horizontal spindle rotation, the cutting tool moves in longitudinal or transverse directions to carry out machining operations on the workpiece. Whether machining discs, shafts, or ring parts, it can perform a series of machining operations in one setup with high precision and efficiency.

Key Components of Horizontal Lathes

Bed

The bed is the fundamental horizontal lathe frame and carries units such as the headstock, tool post, and tailstock. TSINFA bed contains an integrated high-strength cast iron frame that offers stiffness whilst effectively working to dampen cutting vibration, maintaining stability and precision in place for every machine procedure.

Headstock

As the hub of horizontal lathes’ power, the headstock holds the transmission mechanism and spindle. In use, the workpiece rotation is transferred by the spindle whose rotational velocity can be controlled using gears or a frequency converter to support different machining processes.

For the purpose of realizing stable and efficient cutting under complex conditions, TSINFA’s spindle system employs the stepless speed regulation structure. It provides for accurate machining of workpiece surfaces like inner/outer cylindrical surfaces, end faces, and threads at constant speeds, making machining accuracy and surface quality constant.

Tool Holder

Most significant is the tool holder, which holds the cutting tool firmly in position when machining. It may be moved along the X-axis (horizontal) or the Z-axis (vertical) to perform cutting operations at different angles and depths.

To achieve further multi-process machining flexibility, TSINFA horizontal lathes are optionally equipped with an automatic tool changer. The device provides rapid tool change for drilling, reaming, tapping, knurling, etc., and other operations, significantly enhancing machining efficiency.

Feed System

The feed system controls the tool holder direction, speed of travel, and cutting depth. The horizontal lathes use gear or lead screw drives conventionally to impart motion, while the CNC horizontal lathes use high-precision servo motors to drive the feed system, so constant controllable CNC feed is possible.

This building not only improves the machining precision but also significantly improves repeat positioning and multi-axis machining performance.

Tailstock

When rotating, minimal vibration or bending may occur when turning long shaft-type workpieces. To prevent such a problem, a horizontal lathe is generally equipped with a tailstock to support the other end of the workpiece and to hold it in place.

The tailstock is also capable of supporting drills or reamers to perform auxiliary operations like reaming and drilling. This enables the entire machine to possess excellent coaxiality and cutting stability when dealing with long shafts or large parts.

Chucks and Fixtures

If tailstock by itself cannot provide enough clamping, then you must employ chucks or fixtures so that you can hold your workpiece. Depending on machining requirements, choose three-jaw, four-jaw, or hydraulic chucks—offering excellent stability and concentricity during the operation for accurate repeatable rotation every time.

Control System

The control unit of a CNC horizontal lathe is the heart of the machine. It receives your command input, synchronizes spindle, tool holder, and feed system movements, and carries out each step in perfect harmony. For finishing and roughing cuts, you only need to input parameters in the program, and the system will automatically perform complex cutting processes to yield high-precision, high-efficiency manufacturing.

Cooling and Lubrication System

During turning operations, significant heat and friction between the tool and the workpiece develop. High temperatures not only induce rapid wear on the tool but can also cause workpiece deformation. To mitigate this, every horizontal lathe has built-in cooling mechanisms that continually reduce tool and workpiece temperatures with accurate machining precision.

Simultaneously, the lubrication system provides permanent lubrication for critical components like guideways and bearings, effectively reducing wear. Efficient machine performance and longer life are assured.

Advantages of Horizontal Lathes

Precision Machining to Micron Level

CNC horizontal lathes are more accurate than traditional horizontal machine tools. TSINFA models offer ±0.005mm machining tolerances, which high-precision components demand in terms of precision in dimensions and surface finish.

Variety of Axis Configurations

Whether you require straightforward 2-axis machining or advanced 3-axis cutting, we provide tailor-made configurations to precisely correlate machine capability to your processing task.

Flexible Design

Parameters of operation, like center distance and turning diameter, may be set to your part dimensions. This flexible design enables your lathe to integrate with your production floor, not be constrained by standard specifications.

Robust Durability

The body of the machine is made of high-strength cast iron, gets stress-relief treatment, and remains stable under prolonged heavy loading. You can run it continuously with certainty without any fear of accuracy drift.

User-Friendly

TSINFA horizontal lathes have a friendly smart control system with no need for special training. Simple menus and easy programming allow even beginners to get operational in no time.

Safety First

Safety is always our top priority. The machine has fully enclosed guards against chip splatter, as well as an emergency stop button to enable immediate shutdown during malfunctions, to ensure the safety of the operator

Applications of Horizontal Lathes

Horizontal lathes are widely used in many industrial manufacturing industries as primary machinery for turning rotary parts.

Machinery Manufacturing

In the machine tool industry, horizontal lathes primarily machine hundreds of shafts, sleeves, flanges, rollers, and other components. The horizontal lathe’s high-rigidity structure and accurate stability ensure good performance in rough and finish turning of middle-to-large-sized parts.

Automotive Industry

Regardless, machining engine crankshafts, drive shafts, brake drums, or wheel hubs, horizontal lathes achieve high-precision external cylindrical, end-face, and threaded surfaces, achieving component fit accuracy and dynamic balance.

Aerospace

Horizontal CNC lathes have been commonly applied in the manufacture of safety-critical structural components like turbine shafts, casing rings, and high-strength fasteners, demanding exceptional precision and surface finish. Their consistent cutting performance and precise control functions ensure component reliability and safety even during high-speed operation.

Energy Equipment Manufacturing

Large components like pump shafts, valve bodies, and connecting flanges in wind power, petrochemical, and power generation sectors are machined by horizontal lathes to facilitate long-time high-load operation.

Heavy Equipment & Metallurgical Machinery

Horizontal lathes make use of their exceptional load capacity and stable drives to render easy support for heavy-duty cutting and productive manufacturing of large workpieces like rollers, couplings, and shafts of mining machinery.

Key Factors for Selecting a Horizontal Lathe

When you purchase a horizontal lathe, the key parameters help you better match machining requirements and guarantee that the equipment performs within the range of workpiece sizes. Some of the most critical factors to consider when assessing are listed below:

Maximum Workpiece Diameter and Length

They determine the range of workpiece sizes the lathe machines. When machining large discs or shafts regularly, you should select a model with greater diameter and center distance capacity.

Maximum Bar Diameter

In batch production or automated loading, this parameter directly influences the range of raw material sizes. Selecting an appropriate bar diameter reduces material loss and optimizes overall loading and machining efficiency.

Maximum X/Y/Z-Axis Travel

The three dimensions define the amount of tool carriage travel in the different axes. Increased travel indicates greater flexibility for machining, particularly useful in multi-process composite machining.

Spindle Speed and Torque

Spindle performance directly correlates to cutting efficiency and surface finish quality. Precision machining of small components is suitable for high rotational speeds, whereas heavy-duty cutting and machining large-diameter components are ideal with high torque.

Every horizontal lathe option is an investment in production efficiency and precision.

With extensive manufacturing expertise and complete customization facilities, TSINFA delivers cost-effective, extremely reliable machine tools to customers across multiple industries to enable more efficient and trouble-free production.

Horizontal Lathe vs Vertical Lathe​: What is the Difference?