CNC turning is a widespread technology for manufacturing cylindrical parts from various materials. Unlike CNC milling, CNC turning rotates the workpiece and introduces a stationary tool into the workpiece. Advanced CNC turning centers take this further by adding milling functionality to the machine to produce highly complex parts like those in the image below:
This article will provide a top-level introduction to the CNC lathe machine and will describe typical naming conventions, how CNC turning works, the types of operations available, and the various components of a CNC turning machine.
CNC turning is a subtractive manufacturing technology and refers to the process of removing material from a (typically) cylindrical stock piece of material — though CNC turning can also be performed on a wide range of stock shapes such as hex or square bars. The machine spins the workpiece while a tool moves to engage and remove material until the desired shape is achieved.
