There are several different designs of frontal lathes. In particular, a distinction is made between lathes where the
bedway is parallel to the
axis of the main spindle (similar to a universal lathe), and lathes where the bedway is
perpendicular to the axis of the main spindle (similar to the letter T in a
floor plan). In industry, face lathes have evolved from the general purpose
universal lathe to specialized applications. The face lathe is in some cases a precursor to modern
CNC turret lathes, which are a type of lathe in which several tools are mounted on a rotating head. For
watchmaking, face lathes have been used since the 18th century and are still common for
prototyping. == See also ==