Carving long channels

[Gerald Bennett]

I figure there must be a quick easy way to carve a long channel in a project.

I am making some cabinets that will have a back board that I want to inset so the seam won't show. I made a channel 1/2" wide and 1/2" deep to create a recess for the back to sit in, its on all 4 sides so in theory should allow the back to drop in. The problem is carving a channel over 4 feet long with the carving bit will take a long time, I don't see a way to have the cutting bit go just part way through and even then it would have to make multiple passes to reach 1/2" wide

Does anyone know of an easy way to have the machine do this or is just carving a region the only way to do it. I included an image, to make it fit the posting restrictions I had to cut out the center of the image but the long channel (or groove if you prefer ) at the top is the one I am looking to speed up the process for.

[DocWheeler]

Gerald,

With the continuous-line you can create a vector path for the 3/8" straight bit. You have to adjust the space between lines to account for the bit pushing the Y truck (taking all the slack out of things) one direction or the other depending on the axis it is moving as it cuts.

This is a whole lot faster than a carve region, but the bottom of the cut isn't as nice.

[fwharris]

I figure there must be a quick easy way to carve a long channel in a project.

I am making some cabinets that will have a back board that I want to inset so the seam won't show. I made a channel 1/2" wide and 1/2" deep to create a recess for the back to sit in, its on all 4 sides so in theory should allow the back to drop in. The problem is carving a channel over 4 feet long with the carving bit will take a long time, I don't see a way to have the cutting bit go just part way through and even then it would have to make multiple passes to reach 1/2" wide

Does anyone know of an easy way to have the machine do this or is just carving a region the only way to do it. I included an image, to make it fit the posting restrictions I had to cut out the center of the image but the long channel (or groove if you prefer ) at the top is the one I am looking to speed up the process for.

Options:

Use the line tool and draw the lines, assign either the 1/8" or 3/8' bits.

or
do it on your table router..

[Metalhead781]

An option i like to use, Setup the carve regions 1/16" small and then use a vector with inset to run the 1/8" bit around the edges to make the carve true and square. Setting the quality to draft will increase the speed. Just don't include any decorative carving work when u design the mpc. The vector path will go through it's paces at it's normal speed but it's simply cleaning up the edges of the carve region. Because the carving bit will be used first, you wont run into the issues plaguing the 1/8" cutting bit, it'll stay cool and cut well. In cases like this i might have two or three different mpcs for one part with the decorative carves set to a higher quality. This basically forces to machine to work like a normal cnc router. Hogging out with a rough carve then cleaning it up with another pass with another bit.