There are many components of a Cnc lathe engine and they are important to the function of the process. Your engine will differ depending on what type of Cnc lathe engine you have and what you are using it to do.
All Cnc lathe machines have at least a headstock, carriage, bed and tailstock. Many have stable bearing surfaces that are broad and they work with exquisite precision. When the engine is stable it can found parts that meet the requirements for both repeatability and tolerance.
Here are the major parts of the Cnc lathe and the function of each:
Headstock: There are many parts to the headstock and this is where many of the functional pieces of the engine reside. Here you will find the main spindle, the convert gears and the speed convert mechanism. Within the headstock you will have a strong found because it has to cut with a variety of force. If it were light it would create problems with vibration that would distort the complete piece and destroy its quality.
Bed -- the bed is in effect the base of the headstock and it allows connects to it. The bed helps set the carriage and the tailstock in exquisite parallel alignment to the spindle axis. A part called a way holds the carriage and the tailstock onto the track. The carriage travels along the engine using a rack and pinion system. It also includes a leadscrew that keeps it on am strict pitch or it has a feedscrew.
Feed or Leadscrew -- both of these helps with the gears of the Cnc lathe machine. The feedscrew is the drive shaft for the engine and works with the gears to drive the mechanism of the carriage. The feedscrew is also driven by whether the quick convert gearbox or the convert gears. There are other gears that allow for the strict ratio so that the parts that are made are accurate. The feedscrew and leadscrew work together with the spindle to make the strict estimate of screw threads on the work that you are doing.
Carriage -- within the carriage is the tool bit that turns whether in a perpendicular or longitudinal direction depending on how the operator controls it. The operator will set this on a Cnc engine where it would use a handwheel on the older machines. The handwheels are there and can be used to manually move the carriage or to automate it. Also, the handwheels have calibrations on them for ease of use.
Cross slide -- this is a small part that sits on top of the carriage. It has both a main spindle axis and a leadscrew. The leadscsrew in effect moves along the main spindle axis in a perpendicular fashion so that it can perform facing operations; only one direction can be done at a time.
Depending on the Cnc lathe you have, there will also be a computer component where you can schedule whether the Cad or Cam schedule to do exactly what you want it to do. Although these machines seem complicated, they are not as difficult once you start to use it.
