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It seems so simple, but apparently I’m even simpler!
I have a 1/16" bit. When I draw a hole path in Illustrator that is exactly 1/16" diameter, then bring it to Easel and set it to ‘Inside’, it won’t show up as being able to cut. When I set it to ‘On Path’, it shows up and cuts, but makes the hole too big.
Does the answer seem obvious to anyone else? I just want to plunge drill a 1/16" hole with my 1/16" bit. Should I import points for holes in my SVG’s, instead of circles? What should I set the cut to?
Easel doesn’t generate drilling toolpaths. You could try Fusion 360 for free. Otherwise, you’ll have to use a bit smaller than the hole you’re trying to drill.
I believe there is also an Easel bug currently which doesn’t let the just barely larger holes work. In another thread, it was mentioned that for a 1/8" hole, it needed to be .132" (0.126" doesn’t work anymore, it used to).
You may have to go to 0.09" for a 1/16" hole which essentially means, you don’t have a 1/16" hole.
Given that Easel CAM doesn’t generate proper drilling toolpaths with pecking & retraction, I have a feeling that even if you manage to generate a toolpath, it’s likely to burn your bit or your stock.
I just wanted to mark where my drill holes would go with a super small bit, so I could take the piece off to the drill press after for drilling. Just a cheeky 1mm peck or something
I did search, and I found a lot of people having a lot of different issues without solutions, and also that there was a possible software fix in the works. So I decided to ask today for some up to the minute points of view. No one made you come here and read the post, so save the tone. It’s not your forum, so relax or stay quiet.
I came to CNC after spending years learning various music and design software packages, and then several generations of each of them, so to be honest now I’m just really burned out with learning new things. I use Rhino3D to design and run it through Illustrator to get it ready for Easel, and my machine is set up for flip milling. So things like arm carves and neck contours I just bang out the old fashioned way with my luthier tools.
Eventually I plan on getting my head around my copy of Fusion360 CAM, so I can get more done on my CNC, but for now I’m just trying to get what I have working smoothly before I take that next (and hopefully final!) step. I have hundreds of super-detailed Rhino 3D files I’ve made over the last couple of years that I can’t mill electronically yet.
I’ll hopefully be uploading a bunch of useful guitar body and neck files up on here in the next little while as I convert more of my stuff to Easel format for everyone to play with. Thanks for checking me out.
I think the industrious gentleman in the YouTube link was using Easel for the peck drilling function, so it looks like at this stage that Easel won’t recognise 1/16" circles from Illustrator. It looks like the function hasn’t been officially released yet, so hopefully the team at Inventables is working out how to incorporate it with imported SVg’s from other applications (otherwise, what’s the point really?)
