Times in the margin
After a run every line shows the seconds it took. The lines add up to the run time exactly, and the removed volume to the total.
Programming
Write G-code with the controller watching.
Studio's program editor is wired to the twin. Every line gets the time it took, every mistake gets a rule and a line number, and every change can run to the end before it reaches metal.
The editor
Everything the controller knows, next to the line.
Built on Scintilla, the editing component of Notepad++ and SciTE, with G-code colouring and a margin that the twin fills in.
Checked as you type
0.4 s after you stop typing, the controller's check mode and 15 static rules go through the program. Findings sit in the margin, each with its suggested fix.
The state at the cursor
The status bar shows what the controller's modal state will be after the line under the cursor: units, plane, distance mode, work offset, feed, spindle, coolant, tool.
Breakpoints and conditional pauses
Stop at a line, or when force, spindle load, following error or chatter margin crosses a limit, at the first cut, a near miss, a rapid into material, a collision or an alarm. Virtual time freezes; the motion is not changed.
Restart from a line
Studio writes the start block for any line: tool, offsets, spindle, coolant and a safe approach. Example 02 restarted at line 460 leaves the same workpiece as an uninterrupted run.
Versions and compare
Every program you load or change is kept as a version with who and why; your own files are never overwritten. Ctrl+D compares two side by side, with their run times.
Static rules
Fifteen rules for what the controller accepts but should not.
Check mode finds what the controller refuses. These rules find what it runs anyway — and what this machine cannot do at all.
S01 | Warning | No safe start block before the first move (units, distance mode, plane, work offset): the program relies on the controller's state. |
S02 | Warning | No M2/M30 at the end: the controller keeps its modes, the spindle and the coolant. |
S03 | Info | A tool change (M6) with the tool below Z0: retract first. |
S04 | Error | A cutting move before any F: the controller refuses it (error:22) or uses the feed left from before. |
S05 | Warning | The spindle started without S, or S outside the spindle's range. |
S06 | Info | F above the axes' top speed in the move's direction: the planner caps it. |
S08 | Info | Dense short lines: the planner's queue holds too little path to brake from F, so the feed stays lower. |
S09 | Info | A deep straight plunge: consider a ramp or a helix and a centre-cutting tool. |
S10 | Warning | A rapid below Z0, deeper than the program has cut so far: a rapid into material breaks tools. |
S11 | Error | An arc the controller refuses (error:33): radius and end point do not agree. |
S12 | Warning | The water-cooled spindle turns during feed moves without its coolant (M8). |
S14 | Warning | A tool of a different length in the spindle than the one that set Z zero, and no tool measurement or new Z0 before the first cut. |
S15 | Error | The program reads Fanuc system variables (for example G43 H#4120); this controller has none, so they read as 0. |
S16 | Error | G33 threading or G33.1 rigid tapping needs a spindle encoder, which the MC-1 does not have. |
S17 | Warning | Characters the controller acts on at once: ! ~ ? in comments, and bytes of non-ASCII text. |
Per-line profile
Why is it slower than the program says?
For every line Studio records whether the programmed feed was reached, and if not, what held it back — from the controller's own junction and braking arithmetic, not from a guess.
- Axis
- the feed is above an axis' top speed in that direction
- Corner
- the junction speed at a corner between two moves
- Arc
- the centripetal limit on a small radius
- Look-ahead
- too little planned path to brake from the feed in time
- Starved
- the sender could not keep the planner's queue full
- Parser
- the controller was still parsing the next lines
- Override
- a feed override below 100 %
- Hold
- a feed hold or a programmed stop
Optimizer
Faster, without asking more of any tool.
The optimizer changes numbers, not the path. Every candidate runs to the end on a fresh twin and is only accepted if nothing got worse.
What it changes
- Lighter cuts get feeds up to the heaviest cut the same tool already makes
- Moves in the air go at the axes' top speed; finishing passes and plunges keep theirs
- A chattering section gets the stability lobes' spindle speed, with the feed per tooth kept
- Collinear short lines are merged; arcs are fitted only where the sender could not keep up
- Rapid retracts come down to 1 mm above the highest thing below them
When a result is accepted
- It runs to the end with no new event: no rapid into material, no cut with the spindle stopped, no collision or near miss
- Force, chip thickness and spindle load stay within 105 % of the original's heaviest cut
- The chatter margin does not rise above the original's (or 1)
- The part is no worse, and the run is shorter
Features
Simple features in one line each.
Describe features instead of lines and the CAM writes the program for the blank on the table, runs it in the twin and, where the tool would chatter, writes it again at a stable spindle speed or with a shallower pass.
- Face, pocket (rectangle with corner radius, or circle), slot, contour inside or outside
- Drill (G81, G83 peck drilling when deeper than 3 × D), helical bore, single-line text
- Speeds and feeds from the material (17 materials) and the tool; ramps, climb milling, walls finished to size
CAM
For whole parts: Studio's CAM.
When a part is more than a few features, the CAM takes over: drawings, text and meshes in; pockets, contours, adaptive clearing, engraving and 3D roughing and finishing out — with cutting data estimated from the twin's physics and a trial run in the twin.
Shapes from a drawing or your AI
SVG and DXF drawings, text in a single-line or outline font, simple shapes and formulas, and meshes (STL, OBJ, 3MF, glTF) for 3D work.
Toolpaths for this machine
Pockets with islands (offset, adaptive, zigzag), contours with tabs, trochoidal slots, holes and threads, engraving and V-carving, and 3D roughing and finishing on three axes.
Cutting data from a physics model
From the material and the tool, the twin picks a spindle speed on a stability lobe and limits each depth by chatter, spindle power, the fixture's grip and tool deflection; the program says why.
Proven before it cuts
By default every program runs to the end in the twin; chattering or overloaded operations are rewritten, then the feeds are tuned line by line. The CAM runs on your computer.
More about the CAM: the CAM page.
Keyboard
The editor is driven from the keyboard; the F keys always act on the machine, and F1 is the E-stop.
| Alt+3 | the Program workspace: library, editor, check |
| Ctrl+K | load into the machine and check |
| Ctrl+Shift+O | optimize |
| Ctrl+B | a breakpoint on the line; Ctrl+Shift+B: a conditional pause |
| Ctrl+D | compare with a saved version |
| Ctrl+. | apply the suggested fix |
| F5 | cycle start, or continue after a pause |
| F1 | E-stop, in every workspace |
FAQ
Does the optimizer change my file?
No. The result arrives in the editor as an undoable edit, next to the version before it; both are kept as versions. Your own files are never overwritten.
Can I use the editor with my CAM's output?
Yes. Open any G-code file; the check and the rules tell you which lines this controller would refuse or run differently than intended.
Where did the generator go?
It is now the quickest way into the CAM: describe simple features and the CAM writes, checks and proves the program. For whole parts, use the CAM workspace or ask your AI assistant.
Are the time savings real?
They are what the twin computes with nominal machine and cutting parameters. They become measured numbers when the MC-1 prototypes are calibrated against the twin.
Write your next program in the twin.
Load an example, change a line and watch the margin, the rules and the run time answer.