Documentation / User manual

Getting started

Twinwright Studio runs a digital twin of your CNC machine. You set the part up, make or open a program and run it in the twin before the real machine cuts. This chapter takes you from installing to a first part in about ten minutes.

Installing

Studio needs 64-bit Windows 10 or 11 (see System requirements).

1. Run TwinwrightStudio-<version>-setup.exe. You do not need administrator rights: Studio is installed for you.
2. Read the licence agreement and click I Agree.
3. Keep the folder, or choose another.
4. On the last page, keep Run Twinwright Studio ticked and click Finish.

Studio is in the Start menu as Twinwright Studio. Installing for many computers, and what goes where: Installing and removing.

The first start

Studio opens in the Run workspace with the machine MC-1 · My workbench switched on. Nothing is asked.

The machine bar shows ALARM:11 and Next step: Home. This is normal: like a real machine, the twin does not know where its axes are until it has homed.

What the window shows

A new installation shows everything an engineer uses: all six workspaces, the curves and the colourings. If you only run programs, or teach, choose a level that shows less: Tools > UI level (see User levels).

Language and units

Studio starts in your system's language when it has it (English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese or Spanish), and otherwise in English. The units and the way numbers look follow your region.

To change them: Tools > Language / 语言 and Tools > Units. See Language and units.

Editions and the trial

The edition you have shows in the top bar, for example Learning. Click it, or use Help > Licence…, to see it.

Each edition has everything of the editions above it in the table. A feature of a higher edition shows with its edition's name. Click it to read what it does, and to start a trial or open the licence.

When a trial or a licence ends, Studio goes back to the Learning edition. Your projects, programs and the G-code you made keep working.

Starting a trial

You can try the Maker and the Pro edition for 30 days each, once per computer.

1. Click a feature of that edition, for example Optimize in the Program workspace.
2. Click Start a 30-day trial…
3. Click Start the trial.

Studio asks Twinwright's licence server for the trial once, sending the edition, a hash of the computer's fingerprint and Studio's version. When the trial ends, a notice in the Messages tab says so.

Activating a licence

Open Help > Licence….

To activate online:

1. Type the activation code (TW-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX). Case, spaces and hyphens do not matter.
2. Click Activate. Result: Activated.

To activate a computer without the internet:

1. Under Activate offline, copy this computer's request code.
2. On a computer with the internet, open the licence page, paste the request code and download the licence file (.twlic).
3. Bring the file back and click Import a licence file…

Renew before it ends renews the licence online before it runs out. It sends only the licence's number, a hash of this computer's fingerprint and Studio's version.

Seats, moving to another computer and classrooms: Licensing.

A first part in ten minutes

The quickest first part is one of the example parts: Studio sets up the blank, the tools and the work zero for you.

Open the machine

The machine is already open: MC-1 · My workbench, in the Run workspace. Other machines are in File > Machine library….

Power on and home

Press Home (F3), or the key the machine bar suggests.

Result: the three axes find their home one after the other, in about 20 s. The machine bar shows No alarm.

If the machine bar shows E-stop, release it first (F1), then press Power on (F2) and Reset (F12).

Open an example program

1. Choose File > Example parts…
2. Choose NEMA 17 motor mount plate (e01_motor_mount): a fitted bore, counterbores and slots, cut free on bridges. Result: Studio places the blank, loads the tools and the program, and sets the work zero on the blank. The console says when the example is ready.

Run it in the twin

1. Press Cycle start (F5).
2. To watch it faster, choose Simulation > Speed > ×10 real time.

The 3D view shows the tool cutting the blank. Feed hold (F6) pauses the program, Cycle start goes on.

Look at the result

• Drag in the 3D view to turn it; the wheel zooms.
• View > Colouring > Workpiece: deviation from the part colours what is left to cut and any gouge.
• Analysis (Alt+5) shows which lines took the time and the twin's estimates of force and chatter.

Set up the blank

For your own part, set the machine up in Setup (Alt+1) instead of loading an example:

1. Go to the step Setup.
2. Under Workpiece and setup, choose the Shape, the Material and the Fixture, and type the sizes.
3. Click Place.

See Setting up a job.

Measure the tool

1. Go to the step Tool, choose the tool and click Change tool.
2. Click Measure reference tool.

The machine must be homed and the spindle stopped.

Set the work zero

1. Go to the step Zero and jog the tool to the point you want as zero.
2. Click Zero all, or zero the axes one by one.

With a touch probe, the probe card finds the zero for you (see Probing).

Then open your program (File > Open program…) and run it as above.

Where to go next

• The window and the workspaces: what is where.
• Making programs: CAM in Studio.
• Running a program in the twin: what the twin checks and estimates.
• Running a program and resuming: runs, alarms and starting again.

A ? on a panel opens this manual at that panel's chapter. Help > Documentation opens it at the start.