The invention discloses a numerical control tool rest cutting overload protection device. The protection device comprises a drive-side shaft sleeve, steel balls, a reset shaft sleeve, cylindrical stopping blocks, a left pushing plate, long springs, short springs, long spring sleeves, short spring sleeves, a right pushing plate, a driven-side shaft sleeve and an adjusting shaft sleeve; one side of the driven-side shaft sleeve is connected with the drive-side shaft sleeve, and the other side of the driven-side shaft sleeve is connected with the adjusting shaft sleeve; the reset shaft sleeve is located on the outer side of the driven-side shaft sleeve; grooves are formed in the end face of the drive-side shaft sleeve, first steel ball holes are formed in the driven-side shaft sleeve, the steel balls are arranged in the first steel ball holes, and when torque needs to be transmitted, the steel balls are pressed into the grooves of the drive-side shaft sleeve through the springs. According to the numerical control tool rest cutting overload protection device, the fault removing process is simplified by adopting a mechanical overload protection mechanism; through a critical force adjusting mechanism composed of the springs and the pushing plates, the magnitude of critical force can be changed, and the reliability and the practicability of the overload critical force adjusting mechanism under a certain threshold value can be guaranteed.