Simple G7x Profile editor for Linuxcnc/Axis

  Hi everyone! Follow-up to my earlier post — kept working on the profiler with Claude (AI) and testing on my real lathe (LinuxCNC 2.9.8, Mesa 7I96S). Found more real issues since last time, including a couple more crash risks, plus added several new features.What was fixed:

• G72's D/I/R were also wrongly scaled for G7 — same class of bug as the D/I swap from before, but G72 works along Z, where no diameter/radius conversion should apply at all
• Retract (R) in G71 was missing the same G7 scaling fix that D/I already got
• diagonal rapid moves could happen between multiple finishing/spring passes — now explicit, safe L-shaped repositioning between every G70 call
• a profile point sitting exactly on the centerline (X=0) could hang LinuxCNC before any motion even starts — now caught with a clear error instead

New features:

• tool nose radius compensation (G41/G42) support, including multiple finishing passes under compensation
• separate "spring passes" (repeat the final cut N times with no material removal) as its own stage
• finish allowance entered per pass (e.g. 0.25mm × 2 passes), with the total shown live
• ΔZ (enter coordinates relative to the previous point) and ⌀X (enter the desired diameter at an arc's peak instead of the radius)
• Half/Mirror preview mode
• full project import/export (.txt with all machine parameters, not just coordinates), with auto-detection on import
• Coolant/Tool comp/Cycle as dropdowns instead of text/checkboxes
• generate-then-save workflow (Save/Send stay disabled until you click Generate)
• better fill rendering in preview (incl. ID bores, and stock length the profile doesn't reach)

File and detailed changelog (CHANGES.txt) attached. As always — I'm not a programmer, so please double-check everything on your own machine before trusting it blindly.

Thanks for the write-up and the machine tests. I am not a G71 expert either, so take this as “what I changed”, not gospel.

I am targeting native LinuxCNC 2.9** only (`G71 Q… D… I… R…`). In those docs, D is remaining distance to the profile (finish stock) and I is the cutting increment** (DOC). PathPilot uses a different letter set, so the two will not match; this tool follows the 2.9 page, not PathPilot.

On G7: I do not think diameter mode should halve D/I/R. In my view DOC is still DOC in G7 or G8 — the rest is just a display issue. Logical in my view is that depth of cut reduces diameter by DOC*2. G71’s increment is radius-based as well. Treating G7 as “divide the cycle words by two” also dragged in a lot of other mistakes (G72, retract, mixed scaling). I am not taking that path unless someone can convince me this is the way to go.

v1.1.0 is out with:

- G71/G72 letters swapped to that 2.9 meaning (UI labels too: DOC is I, stock left is D).
- L-shaped rapids instead of a diagonal `G0 X… Z…`.
- An explicit retract between G71/G72 and G70, so finish should not cut a corner through stock.
- Start/retract X now includes G2/G3 bulge past the endpoints, not just min/max of the points.
- Retract X is separate from a user Start X (so a bore start is not used as the pull-out).

I did not adopt G7 `/2` on D/I/R, cutter comp, or “finish only, skip G71”.

I have not had time to run this on a real machine yet, so treat it as untested on iron. Dry-run / sim first. If someone who lives on native 2.9 `G71 Q` can sanity-check the D/I mapping, that would be very welcome.

Profiler 1.1 is here

opw do you have any messenger for real-time chat? Also, what times work best for you?"