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Real cycle time of both channels with their waits, pick-off routine with your geometry and codes, part-off dimensioning and Z1/Z2 origins.
Programs
Channel 1 · main spindle
Channel 2 · sub-spindle
wait between channelsspindle synchronizationchuck / colletsub-spindle axistorque skip
For programmers and operators of twin-spindle CNC lathes: how long the part really takes with both channels in parallel, which channel waits and where, how to write the pick-off with your geometry and how to get the part-off length right.
Paste both programs and they sync at their waits: real cycle time by critical path, steady-state minimum, how busy each spindle is and the stretch that makes the other wait. The player runs them together, and ten fixed rules review the pick-off: main chuck open before parting, synchronisation in the wrong place, G96 inside the transfer or gripping in rapid. On Pro, the AI advisor suggests how to balance the channels.
With your pick-off geometry and your code table (Fanuc 2-path, Siemens 840D, Okuma OSP, Mazak/Star/Citizen with !1L and !2L, or generic commented) out come the main and sub blocks in the right order, a dimensioned sketch and the derived positions. It is saved for that machine and can be sent to the cycle-time tab to be timed.
Bar stick-out, feed per part, how many come out of what is sticking out now, metres of bar for the batch, and a grip that reaches the collet minimum without eating into the parting cut, with a sketch of the bar split into parts.
Offset between the two origins taken from the part, from a dimension you know in both, or typed in, plus conversion of a whole program block from one spindle to the other.
For what no single-channel calculator does: the real cycle time of both channels (critical path between waits, with who waits and where), a main → sub transfer routine with your geometry and your codes, parting/length setup and Z1/Z2 origin conversion. It also reviews your transfer against fixed rules and, on Pro, suggests with AI how to balance the two channels.
It estimates each program line by line with the cycle-time calculator engine, using your machine times and your bar diameter, which are shared with that tool. It also times the sub-spindle axis moves (B, W, Z2…), which the single-channel engine ignores and which left the pick-off at zero. Then it splits each channel at its wait codes and runs them in parallel: at each paired wait, whichever arrives first stops. You get the cycle time by critical path, what it would be in series, the steady-state minimum, how busy each spindle is and the stretch that makes the other one wait. The player runs both programs at once so you can see where each one stops.
Fanuc/Doosan/Haas 2-path (M100–M199), Okuma (block with a single P code), Siemens (WAITM with the same marker) and Mazak/Star/Citizen (!L n, !1L n). A wait that exists in only one channel stops nobody and is flagged; a mismatched wait order is flagged too.
No. The sequence and the approach, grip, parting and retract positions come from your geometry, but the codes are examples: the synchronisation and the sub chuck come marked (VERIFY), and the waits and the main chuck you have to check against your own M list all the same. Change them in the table, where they are saved for that machine, send it to two-channel CT so it gets reviewed, and simulate before cutting.
Yes, and without AI: when you paste both programs they go through ten fixed pick-off checks. It warns if a wait has no partner or they run in different order, if the main chuck opens before parting, if the synchronisation is missing or comes in the wrong place, if there is a G96 inside the transfer, if there is no dwell after closing the sub chuck, and if the sub reaches the grip position in rapid without torque skip. M codes change by builder: what it does not recognise it flags instead of assuming it is fine.
It is for Pro. It reads both programs with the planning already done (waits, who waits how long, bottleneck) plus your material and shop conditions, and proposes changes to balance the channels, move waits and overlap work. Every proposal is checked by re-planning both programs, so the saving you see is the one on the critical path: speeding up the channel that waits comes out at zero. It does not touch the transfer section.
No. The control, the M code table and the geometry are saved for the machine you have selected, using the same set of profiles as the cycle-time calculator. Switch machines and its codes and dimensions come along.
If you want finished length L in the sub and part off with width W leaving facing stock, the bar must stick out L + stock + W before the cut. After parting, the sub holds L + stock and the face is finished in the sub.
It depends on how the transfer is defined on your lathe. Mirrored (Z2 = offset − Z1) is the usual case, but there are machines with both zeros shifted in the same direction. Do not guess: enter a dimension you have measured in both systems and the offset and the sign come out. With that you can paste the whole finishing block and it gives you back every Z converted; comments and sub-spindle axes stay as they were.
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