Grooving and parting on the lathe

The turning page treats grooving and parting as separate operations. Parting cuts a deep groove that separates a finished (or nearly finished) component from the parent bar. Grooving cuts only to a specified depth from the outside or the inside.

Those two cuts are where a lot of first-article fights start: tool width, corner radius, and leftover burr. Put the groove width and the allowed radius on the print. If the groove is a snap-ring or an O-ring, say which.

Knurling, taper turning, and spherical generation are the other “special” turning services listed next to grooving. They use the same lathe family — CNC lathes, turning centers, Swiss — chosen after the shop reviews structure, accuracy, and surface.

Send a drawing if the note maps to a live part.