GCarve

Open .tap and G-code files

You have programs that already cut well, and you want to see them, check them, or run them on a different machine. GCarve opens them like a drawing.

1. Open or drop the file

File ▸ Import G-code, or just drop a .tap, .nc, .gcode, .ngc or .cnc file on the window. WinCNC (CAMaster), GRBL, Mach3, Fusion 360, Vectric and most other dialects are read, including WinCNC's [ ] comments and F100 XY / F50 Z feeds.

2. Parts and bits

A program is split at each tool change. GCarve picks the bit from the file's own tool comment, then from names like V60 or EMD14, then from how the moves behave, and matches it to a bit in your tool library (or adds it). The feeds and spindle speed in the file are kept as a preset.

3. Simulate and check

Imported toolpaths play in the 3D simulation like any other. The export check runs on them too: rapids inside the material, cuts below the board or off it, spindle not stopped before a tool change or at the end.

4. Re-post for another machine

Choose a different machine or post and export. The same moves come out in that controller's dialect, and a file that would leave the spindle running gets the stop added.

How GCarve does it

Imported programs become toolpaths of type Imported, listed beside your own toolpaths, so a job can mix a file from VCarve with new work. Edit an imported toolpath's name and bit; everything else stays as written.

See also post-processors and GCarve as a VCarve alternative.