CNC turning machine guide
Every setting that lives on a CNC turning machine - what it is, what it does to a price, and what a typical value looks like. This mirrors the machine editor field for field.
A machine in Quotometry is a real machine in your shop. It carries its own hourly rate, its own build volume and its own speeds, and a part is priced on the machine it would actually run on - not on an average of everything you own.
You can have as many as your plan allows, and several configurations can share them through the Library. If you buy another one of the same model, copy it and change the name.
Every setting on this page
These are in the same order as the editor, with the same help text. Each one has an anchor, and the ? beside a field in your console links straight to it - so if you are reading this because you clicked one, the setting you were looking at is highlighted.
Lathe: capacity and tooling
Materials it cutsgroups
The machinability groups this machine is suited to.
Price: A material whose group is not ticked is never quoted on this machine; if no machine cuts it, the material is not offered.
Typical: all groups on a machining centre; no titanium or stainless on a light mill.
Roughing rate factormrr_factorbasiccalibratable
Turning roughing speed relative to the material's milling roughing rate. The build volume is [turning Ø, turning Ø, turning length].
Price: Divides roughing and boring time.
Typical: 1.5 (a lathe removes stock faster than a mill).
This is one of the numbers the calibration tool can fit from jobs you have already run, so you do not have to guess it.
Finishing feed factorfeed_factorcalibratable
Finishing speed relative to the material's finishing rate.
Price: Divides finishing time over the turned surface.
Typical: 1.0-1.5.
This is one of the numbers the calibration tool can fit from jobs you have already run, so you do not have to guess it.
Turret indextool_change_s
Time to index to the next tool.
Price: Multiplied by the tools per operation and the operations, per part.
Typical: 0.5-2 s.
Bar feeder capacity (0 = none)bar_capacity_mmbasic
The largest bar your bar feeder pushes through the spindle. 0 means blanks are sawn and chucked.
Price: A bar-fed part needs no loading or sawing in its first operation.
Typical: 42-65 mm on a lathe, 20-32 mm on a Swiss-type.
Live toolinglive_tooling
Driven tools on the turret for flats, cross holes and slots.
Price: With it, off-axis features are cut on the lathe; without it, they are a second operation on a mill.
Typical: on for Y-axis and mill-turn lathes.
Live-tool ratelive_tool_factor
Live-tool cutting rate relative to a mill.
Price: Divides off-axis cutting time.
Typical: 0.4-0.6.
Sub-spindlesub_spindle
A second spindle takes the part over and works its back.
Price: One operation instead of two: one set-up and no second loading.
Typical: on for twin-spindle lathes and Swiss-types.
Slenderness limitmax_slenderness
Longest length over diameter turned without a steady rest or tailstock.
Price: No direct price effect: longer parts are reported (DFM `slender_part`).
Typical: 5-8 on a lathe, 20+ on a Swiss-type.
Smallest diametermin_diameter_mm
The smallest diameter this machine turns reliably.
Price: No direct price effect: smaller diameters are reported (DFM `small_diameter`).
Typical: 3 mm on a lathe, 0.5 mm on a Swiss-type.