I posted this with Wednesday's Wisdom but thought it might be nice to have it here, also.

 

 

I picked up this link for software designed just for the lathe. There isn't a lot of lathe software available so I decided to check it out.

 

http://www.lathemagic.com/lm/

 

First, it is FREE!, Second, it doesn't “install†on your computer but rather just runs from and executable. My antivirus and malware software didn’t pick up anything, either. Right now, it is in a beta form so there will probably be additions and other changes down the line. You can find the download, tutorial and PDF manual at the above link. I haven’t read the manual, but did watch the tutorial and played with the program. It is really neat! You can design you own shapes and see what they would look like before committing them to wood- especially nice for the beginning turner. The really great feature is that you can print a profile and use that at the lathe as a guide. So far, I haven’t found a way to add my rolling pin inserts to the drawing to be able to animate what they would look like when turned- but still- IT IS FREE!!!

 

Example image-

 

Thanks Lew. As a very limited experienced turner I need all the help I can get. Doing it in Corel Draw is a pain and takes lots of time. I'll have to check this out.