How to use it
Two videos, start to finish.

First, draw the part (CAD). Then, set the cut and check it in 3D (CAM).
Both were recorded on a phone, so you can follow along at the machine.

Open the same screen What is LATHE-NC

Part 1 — Draw the part

It starts where most jobs really start: with nothing but a paper drawing. Instead of drawing line by line, you type the numbers written on the paper. If you do have a DXF, you just load it.

3:04  /  Subtitles: English, 日本語

The point of this video: painting each line with the colour of its operation (OD / ID / GROOVE) is the job split. Once that is done, all that remains is the CAM settings.

Part 2 — Set the cut, check it in 3D

One sheet per operation: pick the insert you actually have, set the depth of cut, and recalculate. Then play every operation through in 3D and watch bar stock turn into the part — before the machine ever runs.

3:30  /  Subtitles: English, 日本語

The point of this video: each operation starts from the shape the previous one left behind. So the way it looks in 3D is the way it will cut.

Terms used in the videos

Just the parts that tend to trip people up the first time.

Point input

Instead of drawing lines, you place points in order. Type only a diameter and it stands up a face; type only a Z and it runs along the diameter. The value you skip carries over from the last point, and the closing segment back to the start is added automatically — no overall length to work out.

Layer painting

Assigning each drawn line to the operation that will cut it. Outside to OD, bore to ID, groove to GROOVE. That colouring becomes the list of operations.

STOCK

The bar you start from. Add clearance and it shows the actual diameter the cut will start from.

Nose radius compensation

The correction that cancels out the under- and over-cut a round insert tip leaves on tapers and radii. In LATHE-NC you pick the insert; the maths is applied for you.

Play all operations

Runs every registered operation from the top in 3D. Each one inherits the shape the previous one left, so collisions and leftover material caused by the operation order show up exactly as they would on the machine.

Merged G-code

Every operation joined into a single G-code file. Copy it and take it to the machine.

Follow along on your own screen

Nothing to install — it opens in a browser. Free during beta.