CNC turning lathe, Swiss type lathe original manufacturer since 2007.
Wood Bowl Turning
Many woodturners start their craft by turning spindles. In fact the majority of beginner sets of woodturning tools contain spindle turning tools and seldom a gouge for turning bowls. Yet for many people the desire to turn wood starts with seeing a beautiful bowl made of wood and wishing to attempt wood bowl turning themselves. In reality, this is a good place to start your woodturning journey.
There are at least two things to realize about turning a wooden bowl. First, it is fairly easy to turn a bowl and second that it is very difficult to turn a really nice bowl. This is one of the things that keeps turning fascinating. While the first bowl might be good and the tenth a lot better, there is the knowledge that no matter how many bowls one turns, they can always improve. The next one will be better yet.
Turning a wood bowl takes patience. Most woodturners start with green wood, that is wood that is still wet from the cutting of the tree. This is because it is difficult and expensive to get wood thick enough for a bowl and dry enough to use immediately. Drying wood is an art in its own right and drying thick wood without cracks almost magical. In other words it is cheaper and easier to start with green wood.
From a piece of green wood from a log, a very thick bowl is turned. This thick bowl is waxed on the end grain to allow for gradual, controlled drying. While this should take place without cracks, the bowl will warp. This dried bowl is replaced on the wood lathe and turned to a thin walled beauty, now of dried and stable wood.
Still other turners will build up a bowl blank from many pieces of wood. These are called segmented or pieced bowls. While the wood is dried and can be finished turned to a gorgeous bowl, it can take much longer to prepare the blank than to do the actual turning. In fact it can take days of glue drying for individual layers of the bowl and then the assembled bowl itself before the turning can commence. Once again patience is required. However, the final product is worth the wait.
The tools for turning a bowl are quite simple. Basically, one needs either an inserted tip tool such as an Oland tool or a bowl gouge. It is assumed that one already has a wood lathe and a means to sharpen the gouge. Some will claim that it necessary to have a four jaw chuck to turn a bowl but this is a fairly recent invention and people have turned wood bowls for centuries without a chuck. Since the chuck may cost as much as many beginning lathes, it is good to start without one.
The same gouge is used on the outside and the inside of the bowl. It is a good idea to begin with green wood blanks and preferably with instruction from an accomplished turner. Turning the green wood blanks allows for the cuts to be learned that will later be used in finish turning the dried blank. In addition, turning green wood is a lot of fun with long shavings and satisfying results.
At the end of the process one has a wood bowl turned on a wood lathe by ones' own hand. Not only is it satisfying but also it encourages the next bowl and the next, each one better than the one before.
Zhongshan JSTOMI CNC Machine Tool Co., Ltd. has an array of branches in domestic for munufacturing cnc service.
If you would like to learn more about multi axis cnc machine cnc service, and other types, please be sure to visit JSTOMI CNC Machine. We can offer you top quality as well as cost saving price.
Zhongshan JSTOMI CNC Machine Tool Co., Ltd. has unique staffs who will serve you with their best ideas by affording you with high-quality service.
Daily “Clean + Lubricate” as the Baseline
After each shift, remove chips and coolant residue from the fixture surface and collet jaws with a soft cloth or air gun to prevent corrosion and re-clamping errors. Every eight hours, apply a trace of rust preventive oil to spring collets, guide bushings and other moving parts; once a week, add a thin coat of grease to ball-screw nuts and hydraulic cylinder rods to reduce wear. Before any prolonged shutdown, spray anti-rust oil on internal bores and locating faces and wrap them in wax paper or plastic film.
Precision Calibration & Data Closure
Use ring gauges or master bars every month to verify repeatability of the fixture; log results in the MES. If deviation exceeds 0.005 mm, trigger compensation or repair. For quick-change systems (HSK/Capto), check taper contact percentage every six months—target ≥ 80 %. If lower, re-grind or replace.
Spare Parts & Training
Keep minimum stock of jaws, seals and springs to enable replacement within two hours. Hold quarterly on-machine training sessions for operators on correct clamping practices and anomaly recognition to eliminate abusive clamping.
In short, embedding “clean–lubricate–inspect–calibrate” into daily SOP keeps the fixture delivering micron-level accuracy, reduces downtime, and extends overall machine life.
Six preventive measures
Environment control: keep the workshop at a stable temperature and low humidity; exclude dust and corrosive gases to reduce chemical wear on guideways and screws.
Daily checks: remove chips every shift and inspect the lubrication of the spindle, bearings, ball screws and guideways; act on any abnormality immediately.
Preventive lubrication: replace lubricants on schedule and keep the lubrication system unobstructed to minimize fatigue wear.
Accuracy monitoring: use laser interferometers or ball-bar systems monthly to measure geometric errors and compensate for ball-screw backlash or guideway straightness in time.
Electrical health checks: periodically examine cables, relays and cooling fans to prevent hidden aging caused by overheating.
Data monitoring: onboard sensors record spindle current, vibration and temperature; cloud-based analytics predict early bearing or tool failures.
Why prevention matters
• Ensures machining consistency: eliminating micron-level error sources keeps batch dimensions stable and reduces scrap.
• Extends machine life: preventing micro-cracks from growing can prolong overall life by more than 20 %.
• Reduces unplanned downtime: planned maintenance replaces emergency repairs, increasing overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) by 10 % or more.
• Cuts total cost: lower spare-parts inventory, labor and lost-production costs can save tens of thousands of dollars per machine annually.
• Enhances brand reputation: consistent on-time, defect-free deliveries strengthen customer trust and secure future orders.
Optimizing cycle time on turn-mill machining centers is crucial for boosting productivity and reducing costs. It requires a systematic approach addressing machine tools, cutting tools, processes, programming, fixtures, and material flow.
Ensure Geometric Accuracy
Swiss-type lathes process long, slender workpieces with multi-axis synchronization. A bed inclination of only 0.02 mm/m creates a “slope error” along the Z-axis, tilting the tool relative to the part centerline. This results in taper on outer diameters and asymmetric thread profiles. Periodic re-verification and re-leveling restore overall geometric accuracy to factory standards, guaranteeing consistent dimensions during extended production runs.
Extend Guideway and Ball-Screw Life
When the machine is not level, guideways carry uneven loads and lubricant films become discontinuous, accelerating localized wear and causing stick-slip or vibration. After re-leveling with shims or wedges, load distribution evens out, reducing guideway scoring and ball-screw side-loading. Service life typically improves by more than 20 %.
Suppress Thermal Growth and Vibration
A tilted bed leads to asymmetric coolant and lubricant flow, generating thermal gradients. Subsequent expansion further amplifies geometric errors. Re-verifying level, combined with thermal compensation, produces a more uniform temperature rise and reduces scrap caused by thermal drift. Additionally, a level bed raises natural frequencies, cutting chatter amplitude and improving surface finish by half to one full grade.
Chinese-built Swiss-type lathes have moved beyond the “low-cost substitute” label to become the “value leader” for overseas users. On the cost side, machines of comparable specification are priced well below those of traditional leading brands, and ongoing maintenance costs amount to only a fraction, dramatically lowering the entry barrier for small-to-medium job shops in Europe and North America. Lead time is equally compelling: major domestic OEMs can ship standard models within weeks, and special configurations follow shortly thereafter. When urgent orders arise from the electric-vehicle or medical-device sectors, Chinese production lines consistently deliver rapid responses.
Intelligence is on par with top-tier global standards. Machines routinely feature thermal compensation, AI-based tool-life prediction, and cloud-enabled remote diagnostics. Mean time between failures is long, and fully open data interfaces simplify secondary development for end users. Complementing this is a worldwide service network: Chinese manufacturers maintain parts depots and resident field engineers across the Americas, Europe, and Southeast Asia, enabling on-site support often within a single day, whereas legacy brands usually require factory returns measured in weeks.
1. Quick Troubleshooting Steps
Check the clamping pressure: Ensure the pressure plate or collet applies even force; too much or too little pressure will jam the bar. Adjust the pneumatic or hydraulic release mechanism accordingly.
Align the material path: Verify that the bar feeder, guide bushing, and spindle centers are collinear; any offset will cause the bar to twist or wedge.
Inspect belts and rollers: Belts must be tensioned correctly—loose belts slip, over-tight belts bind. Replace worn rollers immediately.
Lubricate moving parts: Clean and grease the eccentric shaft, release cam, and pusher fingers; lack of lubrication is a common cause of seizure.
I. Installation Guidelines for Swiss-Type Lathe Bed
1. Foundation Preparation
Floor Requirements: The Swiss lathe bed must be installed on a solid, level concrete foundation to prevent machining inaccuracies caused by ground settlement or vibration.
Load Capacity: The foundation must support the machine’s weight and dynamic cutting forces to avoid deformation affecting spindle and guide bushing alignment.
Vibration Isolation: If the workshop has vibration sources (e.g., punch presses, forging machines), anti-vibration pads or isolation trenches are recommended to enhance CNC machine stability.
Summary
Ball screws are the physical enablers of Swiss-type lathes across five critical dimensions:
Micron-level positioning for complex micro-structures;
High-speed rigidity supporting synchronized multi-axis cutting;
Active thermal control ensuring batch consistency;
Ultra-wear-resistant design enabling maintenance-free operation for 10+ years.
Their performance defines the precision ceiling of Swiss-type machining – truly "invisible champions" in precision transmission.