World's largest lathes - photos

[Jon]

I don't know what the single largest lathe in the world is. You could rate them by different factors like total weight or overall length or diameter, and it looks like this nuance is what allows multiple claimants to the "world's largest lathe" title. I believe these are used mostly for propellor shafts for enormous vessels.

Some contenders:

Cockatoo Island Giant Lathe HDR
More: The World's Largest Lathe is For Sale - Industry Tap



1993 Waldrich Siegen 3000 x 13000 mm (118" x 512") CNC Roll Lathe
More: 1993 Waldrich Siegen 3000 x 13000 mm CNC Roll Lathe



Skoda 36 meter lathe

Previously:

WWII hand-powered lathe from Liberty Ship - photo
Lathe whipping accident - video and image
Leonardo da Vinci lathe build

[Frank S]

I can't imagine a lathe of those sizes spinning at 2000+ RPM . Let alone the millwright time to install and true one of these machines before they could be switches on.

[Drew1966]

Very nice to see Australia’s biggest large on this list. (Cockatoo Island)

[Tonyg]

I have a client in Johannesburg that manufactures winch drums for some of the gold mines using a vertical lathe. The faceplate/chuck is level with the floor and is 8m in diameter. I watched for a while as they surfaced a 7,2m diameter, 3m wide drum which was quite fascinating. I do not remember what the RPM was but it was quite slow as at that diameter the m/minute move by very quickly.

[Beserkleyboy]

...ahh, Cockatoo Island...When it was decommissioned in 1991, a huge auction was held. I was new in the specialty plywood business and my partner and I took a truck across on a barge and had fun! I got a nice 3 phase 8" grinder for $40, a Vertical panel (breakdown) saw, and together we bought about 50 sheets of Coachwood Marine plywood. I still have about 10 sheets in the racks and am slowly using them, but only for heirloom projects. Cheers
Jim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockat...w_South_Wales)

[jrouche]

NICE! Any Lathe that you get to ride on is BIG!! JR

[PJs]

Note the hand crank on the cross slide on the Cockatoo Island Giant Lathe HDR...what gets me is the size of the tail stock that says something about 15 ton on the base for it!

[Christophe Mineau]

In my student years in Brest, France, we had the opportunity to visit the Navy arsenal, where they had some interesting machines like a giant vertical lathe that was turning an enormous propellor. It spinned actually very very slowly, but the cut speed was quite fast because of the diameter of the workpiece.
Another amazing machine was the computer assisted machine producing intricate pieces of tubing for submarines. Really amazing machine.

[madokie]

the REALLY giant lathes have ways like over size rail road tracks,that are set in the floor ,aligned with lasers and then concrete is poured in ,,headstock is built/assembled on site .aligned to the ways,bolted to the floor, carridge is built/ assembled on the ways,as is the tailstock..

[Frank S]

the REALLY giant lathes have ways like over size rail road tracks,that are set in the floor ,aligned with lasers and then concrete is poured in ,,headstock is built/assembled on site .aligned to the ways,bolted to the floor, carridge is built/ assembled on the ways,as is the tailstock..

R.G. Letourneau used to have a lathe in his Lufkin Texas manufacturing plant he built it himself. Well over 100 feet between the centers the ways were made of concrete with 2 or 3 oversized railroad rails embedded on both sides I have no idea what the swing was but 2 men had to ride the carriage to operate it
makes my little 56" 38" over the carriage 11' between the center American look puny