Release v0.18.0 · NeoTech/Camcraft

CamCraft 0.18.0 - a clean-room CAM system that turns 3D models into
NC programs for CNC milling and turning.

Full history: CHANGELOG.md
Roadmap: the open issues are the current roadmap
Questions: ask on Discord

What's in this release

Released 2026-11-12.

Breaking: none. The project file format stays at v58, so files saved by
0.17.0 open unchanged. Posted
G-code does change for some machines, so check the first program you post on
each: the Fanuc, Haas, Mazak and Doosan DNM posts now write G21 and the
Siemens 840D post writes G710 before any motion (#901); every mill post
writes an explicit spindle stop after a probe's tool change (#574); lathe
posts reset constant surface speed at the end of a section (#772); and the
post gate judges arcs and tool bodies more strictly in places (below), so a
program that posted before may now be refused by name.

A minor release headlined by CamCraft in a browser (a first web runner),
C-axis unwind for continuous live tooling, default holders on machine
files, a large fixture and holder library (plates, mod vises, 5-axis
vises, accessories, BT/CAT/ER/TTS holders), theme as a user preference,
a Trochoidal slot operation, Tormach microARC 4 and plasma posts, and
two new lathe and mill posts. Thanks to mkinney, vilts, tbrasselle, ahmetv10,
JSwetz and seelesturm for their contributions.

This cut

The UI snapshot goldens were regenerated for this cut and accepted by the
maintainer without the usual manual look at the diff images (maintainer's
decision, 2026-11-12).

New

Runs in a browser (#31, #841, #847): the shell builds for wasm32 and runs
on a web canvas with an awaited GPU start-up and a page built by
web/build-app-wasm.sh. A first rung only, and not part of the release
download yet: the release workflow does not build or attach it, only the
manual CI workflow compiles it. The file picker is still owed.
C-axis unwind (#33): continuous C-axis live tooling now unwinds C at
clear links against the machine's stated C travel. Rotary Contour unwinds;
Rotary Parallel and Rotary Offset refuse by name where C would need a
rewind. Each rewind is an orbit the verifier and the post both see, and the
lathe post caps every C block's feed by the machine's stated linear feed and
C rate.
Machine default holders (#828): a machine file can name a spindle mount
and a default library holder (tooling.spindle_mount,
tooling.default_holder; refused by name when unknown or mismatched). A new
tool added in the GUI or over MCP starts with that holder in the same undo
step. The Tormach MX mills default to BT30 ER20, the PCNC/M mills to TTS ER20.
Theme is your preference (#877, vilts): the theme and colour-vision mode
survive restarts, and New, Open and project files no longer change them. The
light theme now has a light viewport with toolpath, overlay, view cube, hover
and title-bar colours that read on it (#698, vilts).
Holder library (#792, #793, #794, #799): BT30, BT40 and CAT40 taper
holders in ER collet chuck and Weldon versions; standalone ER11-ER40 collet
chucks and BT40 ER40 from one ER table, with the flange flare and Weldon
clamp screw enveloped; Tormach TTS holders (ER20, ER16 and set-screw) with
the collar face as the gauge line. MCP gains set_tool_holder and
list_holder_library. A vendor tool STEP can be aligned by its ISO 13399 tool
coordinate systems (#370, JSwetz).
Tool editor and simulation (#93, #743): draw a milling tool's cutter,
neck and shank as a spun outline (Profile tab, validated against the stated
diameter and lengths, undoable, over MCP as set_tool_cutter_profile /
get_tool_cutter_profile). The simulation draws the tool and holder as the
same revolved body the collision laws judge.
Fixture library (#787, #788, #789, #819, #820): parametric milling vises
(3-8 in, 100-200 mm); 5-axis self-centering vises (52, 75, 80, 125 mm)
centred on the stock; accessories (parallels, 1-2-3 and step blocks, strap
clamps, soft jaws); fixture plates (12 x 12 in, 300/400 mm, 770MX table) with
any fixture placed at a named grid hole or dowel pair; mod vises (fixed and
adjustable jaw blocks on a plate, MCP add_mod_vise_pair). Each is placed in
one undoable step and judged by the fixture mesh laws. Links and retracts
that would strike a fixture are raised over the steel instead of only being
reported; a clamp taller than the machine's Z stroke refuses generation by
name (#339).
Trochoidal slot operation (#220): an engagement-controlled trochoid along
a typed centre line, with the measured contact angle held under a limit by
adapting the step, microlift or retract returns, and named refusals. It also
refuses by name a forward step past the loop cap, a microlift above the
clearance plane and a bore past the helix-turn cap (#774).
Pocket and slot detection (#511): the Model page detects pockets and
slots and creates their operations with one click.
Posts and machines: Tormach microARC 4 and PathPilot A indexing between
operations on the new 770MX + microARC 4 machine (#785; simultaneous 4-axis,
unreachable tilts and A past travel are refused by name); a PathPilot plasma
post for the Tormach 1300PL (#671); a PathPilot lathe post (#612); a Doosan
DNM + Fanuc post aligned with a real sample program (#614, JSwetz; see
Known issues, #950, before using it with a 4th axis);
documented Heidenhain drilling and tapping cycles with explicit floating
holder intent (#51, seelesturm).
Plasma (#672, #801): the through-cut laws judge every Plasma Profile at
the post gate (cut order, cut crossing, a malformed record block the post by
name); a slot or keyway narrower than the kerf is refused at generation; the
laws warn on a rapid over a freed hole slug.
Refused generations show their moves (#261): the moves built before a
refusal are drawn as a dashed ghost in the refusal colour (display only;
never cached, simulated or posted), and the script/MCP error names its move
count.
UI polish (ahmetv10): larger ribbon cells with readable labels,
capitalised tab titles, no internal status text, an empty-viewport hint and a
Z=0 ground grid. The Machines pane's kind dropdown filters the list (#816).
The starter tool catalog is now a data file, assets/tools/catalog.json
(#741).
Documentation (#688, #291, tbrasselle): a Zola user-guide and developer
site published to GitHub Pages at each release tag; a first-part example
project with tutorial images.

Safety and correctness

Posted programs: the mm unit word (G21, G710 on the 840D) is written
before any motion on the Fanuc, Haas, Mazak, Doosan DNM and Sinumerik posts,
so a control left in inch never reads an mm program as inches (#901). Every
mill post writes an explicit spindle stop (M5; MOTOFF on Mazak) after a
probe's tool change and length offset (#574). Lathe posts (Fanuc, PathPilot)
no longer carry a section's G96 into a later section that states none (#772).
The Carvera post names a per-operation smoothing ask with a one-time
"SMOOTHING NOT WRITTEN" note instead of dropping it (#757).
STEP chord cap and arc fitting (#689): a bore at a STEP hole's own size
posts clean. STEP meshes are capped at 0.005 mm chord error, arc fitting
keeps vertices within half the tolerance, closed rings fit whole, and the
gouge law reads arcs at a quarter of its tolerance. A nominal arc round a
convex wall now passes; an arc bowing past the floor between its old chord
joints is now caught.
Reach and tool-body laws (#903, #835): reach laws (c)/(c3) no longer
excuse a leaning shank or holder standing in the part as cutter kerf. A tool
body (imported or drawn) is judged by the same band stack the simulation
draws, so a stepped holder whose flange stands clear is no longer warned;
laws that still use the enclosing cylinder say so; a mid-turn swing through
the part is no longer hidden behind a stock shank warning on the same move.
STEP files with empty parameter lists import (#887, tbrasselle): files
exported by HOOPS Exchange, anything with an empty (), no longer fail as
corrupt.
4th-axis A tables (#797, #804, #813): the machine check reads an A-about-X
table's pose through the tool axis (the underside A0 B180 posts as A180 on the
770MX + microARC 4). The program gate refuses an A index when the retracted
tool tip cannot clear the swept stock, part and turning fixtures by 5 mm. The
swing check also judges a work-turning A whose machine file states no axis
vector (an A is about X), and refuses one with neither a vector nor an
RS-274 letter. A machine whose work-turning A states no nose_to_axis has
every operation posted on it refused by name at the program gate until the
machine file states it.
Adaptive (#850): the growth planner refuses by name a plan that has
worked heavy ring geometry over a long walk, so an islanded area it cannot
finish falls back to the named Offset rings in about 22 s instead of about a
minute. Plans that finish today are unchanged.
Gouge law (b) in Boundary mode (#905): an arc move in contour, trace and
face is checked along its whole length against wall corners, not only at
sample points, so a gouge between two samples is caught. Arcs in the XZ and
YZ planes are still read at their chord joints (#946).
Picking over MCP (#692): locate_part refuses a mate id no click could
pick, like the other pick tools.

Fixed

Fixtures: a vise or accessory key this build cannot read is dropped with
a load note and the project still opens; a strap clamp's stud must be
narrower than its strap; the parallels fit marks the height it sets (#812).
Dropped plate and mod-vise keys show in the load notes, a located plate's
riders are clash-checked, a plate whose mesh changes drops its grid, and
staggered plates with a clamp ear or chamfers are no longer refused as
turned (#826).
Setup page (#866, #872, #873): it names the turn that stops the stock
carry and says what to do; the slow-frame log no longer blames time spent in
a file dialog.
Plasma: the profile refuses a zero-width slit in a picked contour instead
of dropping it (#801).
Build: the main branch compiles again after a Trochoid/Stock merge slip
(#844).

Changed

The UI says "work offset (G54-G59)" plainly, and refusals say what a setup
owns in plain words instead of "furniture" (#876, #878).
The dev build profile is lighter and the gate can use a compile cache
(#900); the release build is untouched.

Known issues

#950 (P0): the new Doosan DNM post, on a 4th axis without TCP, assumes
the table stands at A0 at program start and after every tool change. An
operation at A0 that follows one at another angle is then posted with no A
word and cuts at the previous angle. Until it is fixed, do not post programs
through the Doosan DNM post that mix A0 with other A angles, or add the A0
move by hand and check every A word after a tool change.
#980 (P1): STEP models are now meshed much finer (the chord cap of
#689), and on some parts the Adaptive (HSM) plan of a level then crosses
itself and that level is cut with Offset rings instead - named in the
operation's notes, and the path still verifies clean. On the project's own
test part one more level falls back than in 0.17.0 and the path has fewer
arcs (222, was 600). Expect longer, less smooth roughing on imported STEP
parts until the planner is fixed.
#934 (P0): the Sinumerik post writes work offsets 5 and 6 as G58 / G59,
which on the 840D are programmable offsets, not settable frames. Check
offsets 5 and 6 by hand on that post.
#946 (P1): gouge law (b) in Boundary mode still reads arcs in the XZ and
YZ planes only at their chord joints, so a sharp wall corner between two
joints is not judged there.
#864 (P1): an over-budget STEP mesh is imported at reduced fidelity with only a
log line; gouge verdicts on it can pass a real gouge on a convex wall.
#906, #885 (P1): a machine that states a C travel but no C rate gets an
uncapped rewind feed, and a combined linear + C move on the Fanuc and Doosan
posts is posted at the mill feed without a cap from the C rate.
#938 (P1): a tool tilted by a rounding error (1e-10 degrees) is judged as
tilted, and a holder wider than the cutter then reports a false collision.

Process changes

Contributor and agent process only; no effect on the program.

PROCESS_VERSION 11 (#765): the xtask test scanner ignores braces in
strings, chars and comments.
12 (#846): the classify-effort skill, one way to choose an issue's
effort:* label.
13 (#855): the docs-picture goldens move to the release snapshot lane
(xtask plan gains a step; a fork re-syncs xtask).
14 (#881): a contributor's claim must be live; stale after 48 hours with
no open PR, branch commit or comment, and an ended claim is never mirrored
back.
15 (#913): cargo xtask gate uses sccache when present; a lighter dev
profile; agents must not export CARGO_TARGET_DIR.
16 (#944): agents prefer cargo xtask gate, set RUSTC_WRAPPER=sccache
only when it is installed, and the release build runs without a compiler
wrapper.

Report a bug or ask for a feature

Found a bug? Open a bug report: a
toolpath that looks wrong, a crash, or a refusal you think is mistaken.
Want a feature or an enhancement? Request it:
say what you are trying to machine and what is in the way.
Not sure? Ask on Discord first.

Thanks

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this release:

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