Best CNC Software Combination

[John S]

About the only decent lathe program I have seen is Dolphin.

Many software writers treat lathe as a two axis mill when in fact it isn't, believe it or not lathe is far harder.
On a mill the cutting tip of a cutter is on the corner and can be mapped very accurately. On a lathe the cutting edge is inside the theoretical corner to take into account the tool nose radius and as you work round a radius on the work this point is constantly changing.

On most jobs that are just 'shapes' this doesn't matter but a good software must take this into account, most don't.

This is an interesting read.

http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCCNCGCod...MForLathes.htm