Lathe Operation and Monitoring Training

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate safe work practices and adherence to health and safety regulations when operating a lathe.
• Apply correct procedures for setting up and adjusting lathe components, including chucks, centres, and tool posts.
• Perform basic turning operations such as facing, cylindrical turning, taper turning, and parting-off to specified dimensions.
• Monitor machining processes and make necessary adjustments to achieve required tolerances and surface finishes.
• Inspect finished workpieces using measuring instruments and interpret results to ensure conformity to specifications.
• Implement routine maintenance procedures and identify common faults in lathe operation.

Target Audience

This course is designed for machine operators, artisans, and technicians in engineering and manufacturing sectors who need to operate a lathe as part of their job functions.

Prerequisites

None — open enrollment.

Course Outline

Practicals

Overview

Practical sessions are integral to this course, allowing learners to apply theoretical knowledge in a workshop setting. Under supervision, learners will set up lathes, perform turning, threading, boring, and finishing operations, and inspect their work to industry standards.

Practical Activities

• Practical 1: Basic Lathe Setup and Facing — Learners set up a centre lathe, mount a workpiece in a three-jaw chuck, and perform facing and straight turning to specified dimensions. (8h)
• Practical 2: Taper Turning and Knurling — Learners machine a taper using the compound rest method and apply a knurled pattern on a cylindrical surface. (8h)
• Practical 3: Thread Cutting and Boring — Learners cut an external metric thread and bore an internal diameter to a close tolerance, then inspect using thread gauges and bore gauges. (10h)
• Practical 4: Combined Operations and Quality Inspection — Learners produce a component requiring turning, facing, drilling, and grooving, then perform a full dimensional inspection and report deviations. (10h)

Summatives

Each delegate is assessed continuously throughout the course via daily exercises, scored practical assignments, and a final summative test at the end.

Practical Assignments — 30%

Practical assignments are observed and scored against a rubric during the practical sessions. Each delegate's practical mark is averaged into a single 100% score and contributes 30% to the final total.

Daily Exercises — 20%

Every training day ends with a multiple-choice exercise scored out of 100%. The scores from each daily exercise are averaged across the duration of the course to produce a Daily Average mark, which contributes 20% to the final total.

Final Test — 50%

On the last day a final summative test is written. It is a multiple-choice paper with multiple-answer questions: each question may have more than one correct option, and a single wrong selection on a question marks the entire question wrong — no partial credit. The final test is scored out of 100% and contributes 50% to the overall mark.

Final Total

Component	Out of	Weight
Practical Assignments (rubric-scored)	100%	30%
Daily Average (multiple choice)	100%	20%
Final Test (multi-answer multiple choice)	100%	50%
Final Total	—	100%

All marks are recorded on the AATICD LMS and visible to each learner under their account.

Certificate

How it works

• Certificates are auto-generated on the AATICD LMS as soon as the marks pass the 50% threshold.
• Each certificate is a branded PDF with the delegate's name, the course title, the unit standard ID, NQF level, credits, and the date of issue.
• You can download or print your certificate from your LMS dashboard at any time after issue — there's no reissue fee and no expiry date.
• If you scored under 50% you can sit the final test again at the next scheduled session at no extra cost.

Where to find it

Sign in to the LMS, open your dashboard, and your certificates appear under My Certificates. Each entry has a View / Download button and a print option.

Training Discounts

Group discounts apply automatically — the more delegates you enrol, the greater the saving. Discounts are calculated at 3% per 5 delegates, scaling up to 40% off for 100+ delegates.

Delegates	Discount
5	3% off
10	6% off
15	9% off
20	12% off
25	15% off
30	18% off
50	30% off
75	35% off
100	40% off

3% discount per 5 delegates, up to 40% off for 100+ delegates. Contact us for a custom group quote.