Canned cycle

Imagine you have a toy that has several buttons on it. Each button does something specific, like making a noise or lighting up. A canned cycle is like a button on a toy but for a machine that cuts metal, like a drill or a lathe.

When you press a canned cycle button on a machine, it tells the machine how to move and cut the metal in a specific way. It's like giving the machine a set of instructions on what to do.

Think of it like a recipe card for baking cookies. The recipe tells you exactly what ingredients you need and how to put them together to make cookies. A canned cycle does the same thing for a machine, telling it what tools to use, how fast to move, and where to cut to make a specific shape.

Using canned cycles makes it easier and faster to program a machine because you don't have to type in every single movement manually. The machine already knows what to do when you press the button, just like a toy already knows what sound to make when you press a button.