Business / Machine Shop Glossary

Abrasive: (sandstone, emery, corundum, diamonds) or artificial (silicon carbide, aluminum oxide) material used for making grinding wheels, sandpaper, abrasive cloth and lapping compounds.

Abrasive Wheels: Wheels of a hard abrasive, such as Carborundum used for grinding.

Acetone: A colorless, flammable, volatile liquid used as a paint remover and as a solvent for oils and other organic compounds.

Acme Thread: A screw thread having a 29 degree included angle. Used largely for feed and adjusting screws on machine tools.

Acute Angle: An angle that is less than 90 degrees.

Adapter: A tool holding device for fitting together various types or sizes of cutting tools to make them interchangeable on different machines.

Align: To adjust or set to a line or center.

Alloy: A substance with metallic properties, composed of two or more chemical elements of which at least one is a metal.

Alloy Steel: A plain carbon steel to which another element, other than iron and carbon, has been added in a percentage large enough to alter its characteristics.

Allthread: Steel or stainless steel rod threaded from end to end. It is available in a wide range of diameters and thread specifications.

Aluminum: One of the chemical elements, a silvery, lightweight, easily worked metal that resists corrosion.

Angle Plate: A precision holding fixture made of cast iron, steel or granite. The two principal faces are at right angles and may be slotted for holding the work or clamping to a table.

Annealing: The controlled heating and cooling of a metal to remove stresses and to make it softer and easier to work with.

Anvil: A heavy iron or steel block upon which metal is forged or hammered: also the fixed jaw on a micrometer against which parts are measured.

Apron: That portion of a lathe carriage that contains the clutches, gears and levers for moving the carriage. It also protects the mechanism.

Arbor: A shaft or spindle for holding cutting tools: most usually on a milling machine.

Arbor Press: A hand-operated machine tool designed for applying high pressure for the purpose of pressing together or removing parts.

Assembly: A unit of fitted parts that make up a mechanism or machine, such as the headstock assemble of a lathe.

Austenite: One of the basic steel microstructures wherein carbon is dissolved in iron.Austenite forms at elevated temperatures.

Automatic Stop: A device which may be attached to any of several parts of a machine tool to stop the operation of the machine at any predetermined point.

Axis: The line, real or imaginary, passing through the center of an object about which it could rotate: a point of reference.

Babbitt: An antifriction metal alloy used for bearing inserts: made of tin, antimony, lead and copper.

Back Gears: Gears fitted to a machine to increase the number of spindle speeds obtainable with a cone or step pulley belt drive.

Back Rake: The angular surface ground back from the cutting edge of cutting tools. On lathe cutting tools the rake is positive if the face slopes down from the cutting edge toward the shank and negativ . . . View Full Definition

Backlash: The lost motion or looseness (play) between the faces of meshing gears or threads.

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