Productivity enhancement assumes a paramount importance in today’s competitive industrial world. The aim of this work is to improve productivity in a conventional lathe with two single point cutting tools machining a workpiece simultaneously. An additional tool holding fixture is fabricated and integrated so that distance between the two cutting tools can be varied and has a provision to provide individual depth of cut. Experiments were performed on gray cast iron workpiece at different offset distances between the cutting tools, at a particular cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut. In the multi-tool turning process, lagging rear cutting tool experiences lesser cutting force than leading front cutting tool. This behaviour is due to the machining of front cutting tool preheat as well as reduction of effective cutting speed while machining with rear cutting tool. With increase in offset distance, moment acting on the work piece contributes to increase in resistance against machining and hence front tool experiences higher force than rear cutting tool.

No abstract