Manufacturing

methods of spindles
By
P.Sharath Chandra
Roll no:143511
Manufacturing
under
Dr. P.vamsi Krishna
Assistant professor
Dept. of mechanical engg.

Contents :
1) Introduction
2) Functions
3) Materials and its requirements
4) Design of hollow spindles
5) Sequence of machine operations in manufacturing a lathe
spindle

Introduction :
lathe spindle is usually located on the left end of thelathe bedas
looked at from the operators viewpoint
The spindles entire purpose is to hold and rotate the material to
be worked without allowing undue vibration or flutter during the
machiningprocess.
The lathe spindle ordinarily consists of a plate or disc either
mounted to a shaft or with an integrated shaft, and incorporating
a chuck configured to grasp the particular stock to be turned

Functions :
Transmission of rotary motion to the workpiece or tool
Stability of the position of the rotating spindle in its bearings
determines the quality of the work done in the given machine tool

Materials and its requirements :

Spindles are made of chromium steels , grades 20X and 40X ,
chromium-nickel and other alloy steels
Sometimes cast steel or cast iron is used for the spindles of heavy
machine tools
Strength and rigidity requirements are made to spindles in the first
case, and in addition , wear resistance in the second

Design of hollow spindles :

Redistribution of the internal stresses occurs when metal is
removed from the external and internal surfaces
This may cause deformation which is increased considerably when
the spindle is in operation in the assembled machine tool
This can be reduced by proper design of the spindle, correct
selection of the blank material ,suitable heat treatment of the
spindle and a division of the machining operations into roughing,
finishing and microfinishing

Sequence of machining
operations in manufacturing a
lathe spindle :
The following are the operations performed in manufacturing
lathe spindles :
1) Mill the ends and drill centre holes :
the purpose of this operation is to ensure
accurate alignment of the centre-holes which are to be used as
processing datum features

2) Rough turn journals up to the flange and rough face the flange :
this is done to make sure that concentricity
of the journals from the side of the rear end of the spindle
3)Finish turn journals up to the flange and cut all grooves :
this is same as above
4) Finish turn external surfaces

5) Drill the axial hole from one end to the depth L and drill
through from the other end :
this is to ensure concentricity of the external
and internal surfaces
6) Enlarge the hole from the spindle nose end
7) Finish bore the tapered holes from both ends and face
the ends :
this is to prepare the processing datum
features for finish maching operations

8 ) drill the holes and tap the threads in the flange :

9) Heat treatment : induction harden and temper the surfaces of
the external and internal tapers and the flange face :
this facilitates the redistribution of the
internal stresses and improve the mechanical properties and
machinability of the blank.
Most commonly applied heat treatment is high frequency
induction hardening. In this heat is generated only in the surface
of the layer because the extremely short heating time is
insufficient for the main mass of metal to become heated

this prevents the distortion of the spindle as well as formation of

scale on its surface
The depth of the hardened layer can be controlled automatically in a
range from 1 to 5mm.
The hardness of the surface layer decreases gradually from the
external surface to the axis of the spindle
10) Rough grind external surfaces of the journals , providing a finish
grinding allowance :
this is to ensure concentricity of the journals
to the spindle axis

11) Rough grind taper :

this is to ensure concentricity of
the taper to the spindle axis
12) Tap threads and face ends of round nuts screwed on the
spindle :
this is performed to ensure the
correct position of the threads, slots and grooves with respect
to the bearing journals.
13) Mill the slots

14) Mill keyways and drill two holes

One of the critical operations in spindle manufacturing is the finishing of
the external surfaces.
It can be done in cylindrical grinders and is usually divided into rough and
finish grinding.
Between these operations the spindle is subjected to natural ageing by
holidng at oom temperature for 2 to 12 hours.

15) Finish grind the external surfaces of the journals

16) Finish grind the taper : to ensure concentricity of the journals

to the spindle axis
17) Finish grind the tapered pilot for the chuck and the face of the
flange
18) Finish grind the surface of the tapered hole in the spindle
nose
in the grinding fine grains wheels are used in cylindrical
grinding .
Coaxility and alignment of the external and internal surfaces of

Spindle journals that run in sleeve bearings are superfinished in

addition to grinding
After finishing the journals ,the hole in the spindle is grounded
in an internal grinder.
The final operation of spindle manufacture is balancing. This
eliminates unbalance and ensures a stable relative position of
the spindle in the machine tool and its smooth rotation.

Thank you