Wexmar provides live tooling turning services on Mazak and Doosan CNC lathes equipped with driven tools and Y-axis motion. Live tooling lets us drill, tap, mill, and slot a turned part in the same setup that forms its diameters, so round parts with milled features come off the lathe complete or close to complete. Engineers and buyers searching for a live tool lathe machine shop or mill-turn machining near me can send work to our Canastota, New York shop near Syracuse, or have it shipped anywhere in the country.
What live tooling turning is
On a conventional lathe, every tool in the turret is stationary and the only rotation comes from the spindle. A live tooling lathe adds driven stations in the turret, so drills, end mills, and taps can spin under their own power while the main spindle holds the part at a fixed angle or rotates it slowly under C-axis control. A Y-axis adds a linear move perpendicular to the turning axis, which lets the machine mill off-center features, true flats, and pockets that a C-axis alone cannot reach accurately. The practical result is fewer handoffs to a mill and tighter relationships between turned and milled features.
When a buyer needs live tooling
- Shafts with cross holes, keyways, wrench flats, or radial tapped holes
- Flanges and hubs with bolt circles that must be concentric to the bore
- Fittings and connectors with hex flats and side ports
- Off-center pockets, slots, or milled pads on round parts that need the Y-axis
- Production parts where eliminating a secondary milling setup lowers cost per piece
Wexmar lathes with live tooling and Y-axis
Our lathe department includes two Mazak Nexus QT200 lathes, a Mazak Nexus 250, a Nexus 100-II, a Mazak 200 MS, a Multiplex 6300Y, and a Nexus 450-II, plus two Doosan Lynx 2100A lathes and a Boss 552. Across the department we run live tooling and Y-axis capability, and we assign each part to the machine whose size and tooling fit it. The Multiplex 6300Y and 200 MS add second-spindle work, so a part can be transferred and finished on the back side in the same cycle. Smaller parts under 32 mm often run instead on our Maier Swiss machines, which also carry live tools. See our CNC turning overview and the machine list for the full lineup.
C-axis versus Y-axis milling
With a C-axis only, the lathe can drill on center lines and interpolate some features by rotating the part, but flats and off-center pockets are compromises. The Y-axis moves the tool itself off center, so a flat is milled as a true flat and a pocket can sit anywhere on the face. When your print shows off-center features, we route the job to a Y-axis machine.
Typical tolerances and finishes
| Feature | Typical standard | Typical tight (by review) |
|---|---|---|
| Turned diameters | ±0.001 in | ±0.0005 in |
| Cross hole position to turned datum | 0.003 in | 0.001 in |
| Bolt circle position to bore | 0.003 in | 0.001 in |
| Milled flat width / depth | ±0.003 in | ±0.001 in |
| Radial tapped holes | Class 2B | Class 3B |
| Surface finish (turned / milled) | 63 Ra / 63 Ra | 32 Ra / 32 Ra |
Values are typical and depend on material, part size, and how far the milled features sit from the chuck.
Materials
We run live tooling work in carbon and alloy steels, 300-series, 400-series, and PH stainless, Nitronic 50, Inconel, Monel, Hastelloy, aluminum, brass, bronze, copper, titanium, and engineered plastics. Hard, gummy alloys call for conservative milling parameters on driven tools, and our programmers account for that when estimating cycle time.
Quantity fit
Live tooling pays off at almost any quantity. For prototypes it removes a second setup and the fixture that goes with it. For production it removes a whole operation from the routing, along with the handling and queue time between machines. We regularly run lots from a few pieces into the thousands, and second-shift capacity supports blanket releases.
Inspection deliverables
Turn-mill parts are verified on Brown & Sharpe Gage 2000 and Gage ONE CMMs so milled feature locations are reported against turned datums. We provide CMM reports, AS9102-format first article inspection, material certifications, and heat-lot traceability, all under an ISO 9001:2015-aligned quality system. See our CMM inspection page for details.
Getting a quote
Send a drawing and STEP model with material and quantity. You can upload a drawing for an instant estimate, and a human estimator confirms every quote before release. Call (315) 400-2654 or email ron@backwell.com, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern.