What is the difference between Live Tooling and Sub-Spindle?

Reference › Glossary › Live Tooling vs Sub-Spindle

Comparison

Live Tooling vs Sub-Spindle

What's the difference?

Both are turning-center upgrades that push toward 'done-in-one', but they solve different problems.

Live Tooling

Powered rotating tools in the turret let a lathe mill, drill and tap off-center features (cross-holes, flats, slots) while the part is in the chuck — features a plain lathe can't reach.

Sub-Spindle

A second chuck that takes the part off the main spindle in-cycle and machines the back side, so the part is finished on both ends without manual re-chucking.

Bottom line

Live tooling adds milling capability; a sub-spindle adds back-side machining. Together (plus a Y-axis) they let a turning center finish complex parts complete in one cycle.

Full definitions

Live Tooling

Components

Sub-Spindle

Components

Turning Center

Machine Types

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