Lathe help

[smitty]

Hey gang,
Well I am about to convet my lathe to CNC, and going to get a jump on writing programs for it. I have the Mill figured out, ok more than I did before, but the lathe seems a lttle harder to do.
What I have is, I am milling a tube with numerous procedures. Now, the first one is a slot or groove, that was easy.
The next one is a series of grooves, then at the bottom, a clean up pass or two the full lengh of of the slot ( .960) to be exact.
So how can I program the X axis and the Z axis without having to calculate the moves? Meaning, can I get the start of the groove and the end of the groove, and make everything happen in the middle of the groove witha simple "G" code.
Sounds stupid, but I sure can't figure it out!
I thought about G81, but I still need to figure each move, which is ok, just a lot of writing.
Thanks in advance,
Smitty

[balsaman]

If it's a straight line you can use G01....just move to the start point, and put in G01 X** Z** (end point of the groove). Perhaps I misunderstand what you are trying to do...

Eric

[smitty]

Yeah, it is kind of hard to explain.
I have found when making these parts, that it is faster and easier to make a series of grooving cuts, then make a finish pass like you would normally do on a lathe from right to left. What I was tryin to do is use a "G" code for the grooving cuts, since I figure there will be a 50 moves there alone. Well, nothing better than time to expeirment and see what happens, or breaks!
Thanks Eric
Smitty