Competition among manufacturing enterprises, aside from technical aspects, hinges on product quality and production efficiency. CNC lathes, compared to conventional lathes, can significantly improve product quality and production efficiency. However, why are many enterprises still reluctant to use CNC lathes? CNC lathes have an absolute advantage over conventional lathes in terms of precision, efficiency, and pass rate.

Precision Advantage

Conventional lathes rely on gears and ordinary lead screws for transmission. Due to the clearance between various moving pairs, combined with the inaccuracy of manual operation, their repeatability precision is relatively low. When measuring on a conventional lathe, it is necessary to stop the machine and perform manual measurement, which results in larger measurement errors.

CNC lathes are driven by servo motors to drive ball screws for transmission. After pre-tensioning installation, the ball screws have an interference fit, ensuring backlash-free transmission. The precision mainly relies on the machine tool itself and the program. During processing, position measurement can be performed through encoders, allowing compensation for errors caused by tool wear and other factors. Therefore, the processing quality is good and the precision is stable. It has an efficiency advantage in batch production.

A conventional lathe requires a skilled operator. Due to the use of manual three-jaw chucks and the need to stop the machine and perform manual measurements during inspection, the processing efficiency is low. In batch production, with the use of hydraulic chucks or spring collets to clamp the workpiece, a worker with no technical knowledge can operate at least two CNC lathes simultaneously. The production efficiency is more than four times that of using conventional lathes.

Advantage of pass rate

Conventional lathes, which rely on manual operation, are greatly influenced by human factors. Once the operator's physical condition is poor or their attention is not focused, the product scrap rate will rise sharply. CNC lathes basically ensure machining accuracy through the equipment, and the operator mainly plays a role in loading/unloading workpieces and turning the machine on/off, resulting in minimal human influence. Therefore, the product pass rate is relatively high. Labor resource advantage

Conventional lathes require skilled operators, and the current monthly wage level is 8000 yuan. CNC lathes can be operated by any adult, and the current monthly wage level is 6000 yuan. Currently, CNC lathes have certain disadvantages in terms of procurement costs and per-unit production costs.

The procurement cost is relatively high.

The price of CNC lathes of the same specification is more than 1.5 times that of conventional lathes. However, Old Jin believes that as the price of CNC systems decreases, the cost disadvantage of CNC lathes will become smaller and smaller.

The current per-unit processing cost is relatively high.

It is an indisputable fact that the current CNC lathes have a higher production cost for single-piece machining than conventional lathes. However, after improvement, CNC lathes will also be superior to conventional lathes in terms of cost and efficiency for single-piece production.