Download: this guide as a PDF (for printing or reading offline).

The CAM Plug-in adds 2.5-axis milling, drilling and lathe toolpaths to TurboCAD 2026 Platinum and writes G-code for your CNC machine. This guide takes you from installation to your first G-code file in about ten minutes.

1. Check you can run it

2. Install

1. Save your work and close TurboCAD (the installer closes it if it is still running).
2. Run CAM_Plugin_for_TC2026_x64_65.1_r5.exe and accept the Windows prompt. The installer is signed by IMSI Design LLC.
3. Confirm the TurboCAD 2026 folder (default C:\Program Files\IMSIDesign\TCW2026) and click Next.
4. Activate: the activation window opens in your Windows language. Enter the license key from your order email with your name and email address and click Activate. You need to be online (company proxies are fine). Without internet, email [email protected] for an offline activation code. Installing again or updating on the same computer does not ask for the key again.
5. Click Install, then Finish.

Your own tool library (CAM\TOOLS\TOOLS.mdb) and post-processor files (CAM\CodeSystems) are never overwritten. If you already have them, the installer keeps yours.

3. Start TurboCAD

Start TurboCAD 2026 Platinum. The CAM commands are on the CAM menu, and the CAM palette, which shows the job tree and the G-code, opens by itself a few seconds after the first start following the installation.

If you close the palette and want it back: Options ▸ Toolbars and Menus, Palettes tab, tick CAM, Close.

4. Your first job: a pocket

Set up the job

1. CAM ▸ Start CAM Job… opens the CAM Setup Wizard. Pick your machine type (Milling), units, material and post-processor, then finish the wizard. You can revisit each page later under CAM ▸ Settings.
2. CAM ▸ Settings ▸ Tool Set Setup: click Add… to open the Tool Store, choose a group (for example Mill ▸ Flat End Mill), select a cutter, add it to the tool set and close both dialogs with OK. The tool appears in the Current Tools Setup list.
3. CAM ▸ Settings ▸ Part Setup: set the stock size and confirm with OK.

Create the toolpath

4. Draw a closed shape, for example a 6 × 4 in rectangle.
5. Choose CAM ▸ Functions ▸ Pocket Milling and click the rectangle.
6. Right-click and choose Setup to check the cutting depth and stepover (the stepover must be smaller than the tool diameter), then right-click again and choose Finish. The toolpath is drawn and an operation appears in the CAM palette under Part ▸ Tool.

Write the G-code

7. Click the top item of the CAM palette tree. The palette’s editor shows the G-code for the whole job.
8. CAM ▸ G-code ▸ Save writes it to a file for your machine.
9. Optional: CAM ▸ Simulations ▸ Simulator plays the cut back before you run it.

Toolpaths are linked to the geometry. Move or resize the shape and the operation regenerates.

5. What is on the CAM menu

Post-processors included: Fanuc, Fanuc Lathe, Haas, Fadal, Mitsubishi, Servo and the generic base and Tormach formats (CAM\CodeSystems). For a lathe job, choose Lathe on the wizard’s first page.

6. Uninstall

Windows Settings ▸ Apps ▸ Installed apps ▸ CAM Plug-in for TurboCAD 2026 x64 ▸ Uninstall. TurboCAD’s own files are put back exactly as they were before the plug-in was installed. Your tool library and post-processor files stay.

If Windows still has a CAM file in use, the uninstaller finishes the job at the next restart. If it cannot, it stops without changing anything and asks you to restart and try again.

7. Good to know

8. Help and support

• Full reference: the CAM Plug-in help file TurboCADCAMHelp.chm in the TurboCAD 2026 CAM folder (double-click to open).
• This guide is installed next to it as CAM Plug-in Quick Start Guide.pdf.
• Support: email [email protected] with your order number and your TurboCAD build number. For a G-code question, include the drawing and the post-processor you use.