Giant lathes and centrifuges surround our metallic table, and the hum of machinery fills the air.

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The earliest lathes date back about 2300 years and were powered by a handheld bow.

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Craftsmen throughout history have used lathes to build everything from chair legs to hammer handles to bowling pins.

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Clever software helps Blueswarf.com's customers crank up factory output by configuring mills and lathes with the best combination of tooling.

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Lathes are used to fabricate things by the selective removal of material.

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Tucking the fiddle under his chin, he plays Bach and bluegrass to an audience of lathes, wood chips and empty egg boxes.

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The 20-employee firm brokered custom tooling for factory mills and lathes.

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The 20-employee company brokered custom-tooling for factory mills and lathes.

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Ms. Demeulemeester has a coterie of faithful followers who collect the shirts, jackets and trousers for which she designs most of the textiles, and the shoes shaped on her own lathes.

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If that sounds a bit arty, it is: Mr Schmitt is a former art student from Germany who used to cadge time on factory lathes and milling machines to make mechanised sculptures.

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"We are losing a lot of small companies that support medium-sized business like ours due to financing problems, " said Flavio Radice, chief executive of Pietro Carnaghi, an Italian company that is the world's largest maker of vertical lathes.

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