Easel's "drill hole" feature enables you to easily and efficiently carve holes the exact size of your chosen bit. The feature is designed to be used with your usual milling bits: drill holes have a specific toolpath that minimizes stress on milling bits. However, you can use your machine with drill bits, assuming you are only going to be drilling holes for a given project.
Adding a drill hole
On the left toolbar, select the Drill icon (1). This will add a drill hole to your work area.
| Tips & Tricks: You can identify a drill hole in Easel by the distinct crosshair pattern around it (1). In the 3D preview, it shows as a small hole in the material (2). |
Once a drill hole is placed, set the depth of the hole in the Cut panel—just like you would for any other shape.
| Tips & Tricks: You can use the alignment tools to make sure your drill holes are placed in the right spot. |
| Important: The size of the drill hole will adjust with the size of the bit you are using to carve with. |
How drill holes are carved
Drill holes have special toolpaths, enabling you to use milling bits for this feature instead of drill bits. Easel will direct your machine to cut in a vertical motion, raising the bit out of the material after each plunge at the depth per pass. This allows chips (the material removed from the hole) to escape, reducing stress on the bit and minimizing heat buildup.
Holes are a little different from other shapes in the Easel toolbar. For example, they cannot be combined with other shapes.
| Tips & Tricks: Holes will always be "on top" of other shapes. As a result, they will always be carved before any other shapes in your project. If you want to carve holes last, consider making a two-stage carve. |
Advanced Use: Circles to Drill Holes
At times, it may be necessary to convert a large number of circles in a project to drill holes. This use case will walk you through converting circle carvings into drill holes.
- Select all the circles you want to convert (1).
- Right-click the selection and choose Convert to Drill Hole (2).
The circles become drill holes (3), sized to your bit. In the 3D preview, the large circular pockets change to small drill holes.