Understanding how to properly set up tools and positions is vital to getting Machine Sim to render correctly. The method for displaying tools in machine simulation is different depending on whether the machine is a mill or a lathe. For this discussion, “lathe” includes all lathe machines, Mill/Turn machines, and MTM machines, as defined by the MDD.
Mill machines
Mills will only show the currently active tool, which is the tool that is loaded in the tool spindle at any given time. See Mill Toolgroups for more information.
Lathe machines
Lathes will typically show all tools that are loaded into the lathe’s toolgroup(s) at the start of the NC program. One exception to this is that a lathe can have a toolgroup defined as a mill-style toolgroup, commonly known as an Automatic Tool Changing head or ATC. An ATC toolgroup in a lathe will display tools in the same way that a mill will display tools, namely, to show only the currently active tool at any given time. Defining a toolgroup as an ATC in a lathe involves turning off the Has Turret setting in the machine setup dialog in Build Machine. See Lathe Toolgroups for more information.
