Denford Software & Machines

Mirac Tooling / Programming Question
VR Turning v. 1.15

Teacher wants to know if the codes have to be used in a fixed sequence or can they be mixed?

Are the number of codes limited to a line?

Teacher having problems with offsets in the VR Turning 2D simulation --- when set the 2 offsets on the face of the piece and use negative numbers in the code, the simulation works normally, but when he moves the 2 offsets ½ inch into the part and use positive numbers in the code, the simulation always show the piece about .030 inch off the 2 offsets (to the right). Teacher only wants his students to use positive numbers when they write code because he feels there is less chance of running the tool into the lathe chuck --- Any Ideas?

Is there something in the simulation that changes the offset or doesn’t it show the true toolpath?

Please give advice on how to set the X offset for the drill bits and endmills in the turret, teacher does know how to set the X,Y,Z offsets for the turning tools but is having problems with the X offset for the drill and endmills. Thank you.

Teacher wants to know if the codes have to be used in a fixed sequence or can they be mixed?

Are the number of codes limited to a line?

The codes can be in any sequence in a single line.
You can have up to 5 (possibly 3) G-codes on one line
You can only have one M-code per line
Obviously, you can only have one X or Z position per line, but can be in any order.
Only one Feed (F) command per line.

If you program more than one of the single codes, the software will either flag an error, or simply use the last one on the line

Teacher only wants his students to use positive numbers when they write code

If I understand correctly, it sounds like you need to use some of the extra options on the 2D and 3D simulations to allow offsets to be used.
(sorry if I'm being vague but I don't have access to the software at the moment)
Normally the simulation will presume that you are programming with the front centre of the billet being set to X0 Z0 - there are options to "move" the simluation billet, so that positive moves would show a cut.

Please give advice on how to set the X offset for the drill bits and endmills in the turret

If the drills are mounted directly on the centre line of the turret holder bore, then he should be able to use the "magic" number which will be written on the machine somewhere - this number (eg X-136.43) is the distance from X home position, to the center of the chuck. Find that number, and it should help setting drills on centre much easier.

This link covers setting offsets on the lathe

viewtopic.php?t=73&highlight=offsets

With regard to the teacher only wanting to program positive numbers he can only do this if he does not want the tool to move in a negative direction.

On a mill this would result in the tool never going below the surface

On the lathe the tool is at Z 0 when it is at the front face of the billet. Provided the billet is always longer than the -ve move value the chuck will be safe.

To be able to take a cut the move needs to be -ve in Z

This is now machine tools work and teaching students how to use them requires them to program -ve numbers.


The 2D and 3D simulation takes no account of the offsets values and shows the tools with correct offsets.

VR Simulation does however take the offsets into account and they should be set in VR the same way as they are set on the machine.