ABSTRACT
Lathe machining is an old technique used for cutting cylindrical workpieces by rotating it against a cutting tool held between two adjacent trees. In 1797, an Englishman named Henry Maudslay developed the first screw-cutting lathe machine, which is the origin of modern high-speed, heavy-duty machining. The machine involves a cylindrical work part fixed to a spindle by a chuck and a tool header that holds the tool rigidly and is contacted against the circumference of the work part to cut it to a required shape and size. In the era of mass manufacturing, material removal rate (MRR) is of primary concern even in manufacturing using contemporary computer numerical controlled (CNC) machines. CNC machining is yet another machining technology that consists of a machining centre run by a computerized system. This chapter considers the MRR as a machining response that is to be evaluated for high production rate and reduced cost. The cutting conditions (cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut) were taken as variables that are to be optimized. For each of these parameters, five different levels have been identified. The objective is to maximize the MRR with the most optimal solution of machining parameters (cutting conditions) using Taguchi method with L25 (5^3) Orthogonal Array for three parameters. The material selected for machining was SAE 1020 with carbide cutting tool. This chapter also proposes a predictive equation for determining MRR with a given set of parameters in CNC turning. Thus, with the proposed optimal parameters, it is possible to increase the efficiency of machining process and decrease production cost in an automated manufacturing environment.
