Axes Designation - Co-ordinate System

All the machine tools make use of the right hand Cartesian co-ordinate system. The main axes to be designated are the rectangular axes and the rotary axes. Typical right-handed co-ordinate system is shown in Figure 3. One could use his right hand (as shown in Figure 4) to arrive at the correct orientation of the system. The positive direction of the rotary axes can also be obtained by the use of right hand as shown in Figure 5.

              Figure 3: Right Hand Co-ordinate Systems

Figure 4: Finding Directions in a Right Hand Co-ordinate System

As per the standards, the first axis to be identified is the Z-axis, followed by the X- and Y-axes.

Figure 5: Finding Directions for Rotary Motions