Professional version: The main window is divided into four sections

   Toolbars
   Data entry and buttons 
   Graphic display
  Text editor

   Graphics and text editor windows are resizeable by dragging the border (slider) with mouse. The graphics area (upper and lower limits) is scaled relative to the machine table size. The table size is specified in the MC Setup dialog box as shown in the picture MC Setup ->M/C Table page. If your part is shown too large or too small on the machine table, check the table size and adjust it accordingly.

Aero version: The main window is divided into three sections

   Toolbar
   Data entry - table grid
  Text editor

  Aero version does not have graphics editor. Data entry is a table grid and the offset values must be entered manually.
New version 2.5 can read dxf files and register offsets from geometry - see dxf files example.

  Aero version has some limitations - no offset editing (swapping, copy and paste, setting primary offset other than No 1) and no advanced mode. Aero version can be used only on horizontal machining centers.
 

  Data entry and calculator functions - professional version

   Edit boxes dispay X, Y, Z. B offset positions. Type offset positions in these boxes and save afterwards.
For Primary offset X,Y,Z,B are true offset coordinates, for all other secondary offsets X,Y,Z,B are positions from Primary offset.
X and Z offset positions can be selected from drawn geometry with the XZ pick button. B angle can also be selected from drawn geometry and flipped 180 deg if required.

Each offset has to be saved after changes are made with the "Save Offset" button.

You can browse through the offsets by arrow buttons. By default there are 20 offsets available. You can change number of offsets in the General page in the MC Setup dialog box.

The "Set As Primary" button sets any Secondary offset as Primary and all offsets are recalculated accordingly.

• "Post CNC" - generates CNC part program for calculating offset positions on the machine
• "MC WKS" - calculates and displays numerical position offsets for current Primary offset.
• "CT WKS " - calculates numerical offset positions from center of the table.

There are two check boxes bellow the buttons:

• Auto Increment WKS - if ticked ON the next WKS will be automatically displayed after you save the current offset.
• Show m/c position - if "ON" is selected the workpiece and all geometry is rotated to the machining position for the currently selected offset. However this will disable geometry editing functions.
  

  Text editor - common for both professoinal and aero version.

  Text from the text editor can be saved as a text file (File->Save text ...). or you can copy and paste the text into your part program or insert the text into your CNC program automatically by File->Insert text into file.

  The steps to set offsets are identical for both aero and professional version - the primary offset will be set on the machine by an operator or a probe sensor and the machine control will calculate numeric values for each offset when the program runs.

You can also load a text from a text file into the text editor (File->Load text file ... ).

  All offsets can be saved and loaded into CNC Offset Calculator when you need it. It saves time of typing all the data into the calculator again. If you download the demo version, you can load all offset examples into the CNCOffsetCalc for testing.

 

  Toolbars

      The main toolbar buttons display drop down menus:

• MC Setup - this button opens MC Properties dialog box where you specify parameters for your machining centes. This is the first thing you should do before start using the CNCOffsetCalc.
• File
• New - delete all offsets and all geometry.
• Load Offsets ... - load previously saved offsets including geometry .
• Load DXF file ... - load a dxf file into graphics editor. (Only professional version.)
• Load Text ... - load a text file into text editor.
• Save Offsets.. - save offsets into a file specified by the user.
• Save Text... - save text from the editor into a file specified by the user.
• Save dxf ... - save sketch from CNC Offset Calculator into a dxf file.
• Insert Text Into File... - inserts text from the editor on the top of the text file specified by the user. This option is used when the generated CNC file has to be inserted into a machining CNC part program.
• Print Text... - prints the text form the editor.
• Print to Excel - prints offset positions to MS Excel (if MS Excel exists on the PC).
• Properties... - displays the Properties dialog box.
• Exit - close and exit the CNC Offset Calculator.
• Machine properties ...
  • Select current CNC machine from the list of loaded properties.
  • To add properties to the list open MC Setup->Prop List page and click Load ...
• Edit Text ...
  • Clear Text - clears text in the text output area
  • Cut
  • Copy
  • Paste - all usual edit options that apply to the text editor
  • Delete All Offsets (only light version) - delets all offsets
• Edit Offset ... (only professional version)
  • Cut Offset - cuts current offset displayed in the data entry and places it in the clipboard
  • Copy Offset - copies current offset displayed in the data entry in the clipboard
  • Paste Offset - pastes the offset from the clipboard into the current offset
  • Swap Offsets ... swaps the current offset with another offset specified
  • Move Primary WKS - this will move the Primary offset (without moving secondary offsets and geometry) by the values specified. This function is useful when we want to move primary offset on the workpiece and leave all secondary offsets in place. You can pick the new primary offset position by mouse (hold Ctrl key to snap to a point).
  • Delete Offset - deletes the current offset from the workpiece and resets all its data to zero. (You cannot delete Primary Offset - you can only reset its values to zero).
  • Delete All Offsets - deletes all offset from the workpiece.
  • Advanced... this brings a table with all offsets and its values. You can set primary axis here. 
• View (only professional version)
  • Redraw - redraws the current screen.
  • Zoom In - zoom the screen In.
  • Zoom Out - zoom the screen Out.
  • Geometry Toolbar - show / hide the Geometry Toolbar.
  • Rotate Table to MC Position - if this option is ON, the workpiece will rotate into its machining position according the WKS selected in the editor. The same effect as the check box -Show MC Pos. With this option selected, the geometry editor is disabled if the table is rotated into a secondary offset.
  • Show WKS No - with this option the WKS show numbers.
  • Show MC Frame - this option draws MC Frame axis so the user can check the table position.
  • Show Table Axis - MC table axis are drawn.
  • Show Geometry Origin - the geometry origin with X and Z axis are drawn - to change the geometry origin go to Properties->General page (Geometry Origin).
• Calculate ...
  • "Post CNC" - generates CNC part program for calculating offset positions on the machine
  • "MC WKS" - calculates and displays numerical position offsets for current Primary offset.
  • "CT WKS " - calculates numerical offset positions from center of the table.
  • "Calculator" ... opens Windows calculator (if it is found in the default Windows directory).
• Help ...
  • How to ... displays help file
  • Home of CNC Offset Calc ... opens home page of this web site.
  • About CNC Offset Calculator dialog box ... About dialog box.

    Drawing and editing geometry (geometry toolbar) ... (only professional version)

• Straight lines can be drawn freehand holding left mouse button, or by specifying line parameters - end points and/or line angle in the line dialog box. To draw lines freehand click Freehand button on the toolbar or right click the mouse on the drawing area and select Freehand from the speed menu. The Freehand mode stays enabled as long as you do not deselect it by clicking the Freehand button again or selecting another command or by Esc key.
  To draw the freehand line: click the left mouse button where you want the line to start, hold the mouse button down and drag the line to end point. Release the mouse button. If you want to draw horizontal or vertical lines only (ortho mode) hold Shift key when dragging the line. You can set up ortho mode to 90 deg or 45 deg steps - in MC Setup->General page. Holding Ctrl key will snap the line to end point or center point of an element or a workpiece offset.
  To draw a parametric line, select Parametric Line (small arrow on the Freehand button) or select Line... from the speed menu. This opens the Line dialog box. You can select how to draw the line: start and end point, or start point, line length and angle. 
• Arcs can be drawn by clicking Arc button or selecting Arc... from the speed menu. Arcs can be drawn using options in the Arc dialog box (Start point, Center point, Arc Angle), (Start point, End point, Radius), (Start point, End point, Point on the arc), (Full circle). You can use Pick point button to pick a point on the geometry - hold Ctrl key to snap to a point.
Please note that X and Z positions are taken from current UCS origin (Center of the table, Primary offset or zero Machine frame). You can show or hide the UCS origin by selecting View->Show Geometry Origin.

• Workpiece contour button draws lines along the workpiece taken from the offsets. You can edit the lines - join them by Fillet or Chamfer command, or you can add new lines and arcs to modify the workpiece contour. If you move the primary offset by changing the primary offset positions in the machine frame, the workpiece geometry will move accordingly. If you want to change primary offset position on the workpiece geometry use Move Primary WKS command (Edit Offset->Move primary WKS).
• Workpiece Line button will draw a single line along the currently selected offset in the calc. data entry.

• Fillet - this command will join two lines or arcs and inserts an arc of specified radius. (if the radius is zero, the lines will be joined sharp). Fillet radius can be set by clicking the small arrow on the Fillet button - this will display the Fillet dialog box with fillet radius value.
• Chamfer - this command will join two lines and inserts another line in the corner. You can specify the trim length value by clicking the small arrow on the Chamfer button and Chamfer ... This will display the Chamfer dialog with trimming value. The trimming value is the length by which is the line trimmed from its intersection with the corresponding second line.
• Trim - cut a line or an arc to a length specified by a second (trimming) element. First select the trimming element(s) with left mouse button, then right click to end the selection of the trimming elements and then click with left mouse button on that part of trimmed element which you want to cut (shorten). You can trim more than one element at a time or cut an element between two trimming elements as well. The same way as you trim elements in AutoCAD.
• Offset - this command will offset an element (lines and arcs) by a specified value. Click the Offset button, select an element and then click on the side where you want to offset the element. If the offset value is zero, Offset dialog box will appear - type the offset value and click OK. To reset the offset value, click the arrow in the offset button and set a new offset value. You can copy or move the element to its offset position.

• Rotate the whole geometry around a center point of your choice. Pick a center point (or type X,Z values) and type an angle of rotation (in degrees) into the Rotate dialog box. Positive value rotates geometry CCW (counter clockwise), negative value CW (clockwise).

• Move the whole geometry by specified distance from base point to destination point. Pick the Base point and Destination point (or type the values) into the Move dialog box.

• To delete some of the elements click Delete button (or select Delete from speed menu - right click in the geometry area), then click on the elements to be deleted and then right click to confirm and finish the deleting command. (To cancel the command, click Escape key.)
• To delete all geometry click Delete All Geometry button .

• You can undo the last geometry command by clicking the Undo button on the toolbar or Undo menu item on the speed menu.

• On start there is one "0" layer created. You can add new layers or change layer properties (name, line color, line type or visibility) by clicking Layer properties button located on the Geometry toolbar. This will display Layer Properties dialog box. To edit existing layer click on the layer name to highlight it and then click on button Edit Layer - you can change layer name, color, linestyle and layer visibility. (You can delete only an empty layer.)
  To change active layer select the layer from the geometry toolbar from the drop down list.
• You can set style overrides - click on the style overrides button and set the color and linestyle. This will override styles in the current layer. You can chose if these style overrides are discarded when you switch the layers on the Layer Properties dialog - check the box Use Style
  

• You can display properties of any element from the speed menu (right click in the drawing area). Click Element properties and select a line or an arc of your interest and right click again to confirm the selection. The element properties will be displayed in the text editor or in the dialog box - depending what choice you selected in the MC Setup General page - Display element properties.

• You can select snap point from the Geometry toolbar - check the options - End point, Mid point, Center point and/or Offset.
• You can also select one of the options above on the fly, if you press Shift key and right click on the mouse. This selection will not effect your setting made from the toolbar. It will hold only for the duration of your current command.
• To use snap point hold Ctrl key.