This paper is related to economic design of tool-resetting period in NC machining. In NC lathe machining, the mean and variance of components dimension fluctuate in slow time and we should reset tool program to compensate the variation from the fluctuation. In this paper. we propose the procedure determining the optimal resetting period based on the total expected operating cost which consists of resetting cost and the quality cost related to dimension variation. As a case study, using experimental data about dimension changes of a lathe machining, we obtain the regression equations of mean and variance of the dimension fluctuation, total expected operating cost, and optimal resetting period.