Can't perform what I thought would be a very basic task

[interloper]

Hello guys! I'm back on here after several years of "taking a break". Glad to fire up this machine again (and it did just fine. Kept a cover on it ). Also hinting my machine and project designer are of the older variety (Designer 1.187)

So we have a metal shop and I used a machine break to bend a simple U-channel out of 18 gauge stainless flat sheet to hold some mason jars. My intent was to carve the side profile of this channel into 2 pieces of wood and fit the metal into these slots to be mounted on a wall. The stainless is thick so the 90s and hems have radii I can't easily duplicate by hand. I tried cutting a sample piece of it using the scanning tool, but that didn't work so well. All I need is a single path using the 1/16th carving bit to mill 1cm deep. Am I missing something?

Other thing I tried: I have the STL designer and tried to drag the scanned image into sketchup and take the average surface area of what scanning probe got keeping the path less than 1/16". I created a plane out of that and pulled it out to the 1cm thickness. It cuts but the path is still wider than the 1/16". The slot comes out to about as wide as using the 1/8th straight cutting bit. Ideally, I wanted the slot to be as tight as possible and not have to use any filler to compensate. The tighter slot also means better structural integrity for my application

Any help please? I think I'm overthinking this, and surely I'm over-provisioned for such a seemingly simple task?

Edit: Added some photos for context. Can ignore the sliding rails and covering cabinet in the sketchup pic for this.

[fwharris]

The diameter of the 1/16" tapered carving bit is for the tip of the bit. The deeper it goes into the wood the wider the cut will be at the top surface of the board because the diameter of the bit get bigger at that point.

[interloper]

Yes, I understand that. At 1cm it's slightly less than 1/8". But it's at that 1cm depth where I wanted the 1/16". Instead I see the bit roving through the path twice when coming at the perpendicular cut (on the x axis of machine) opening the path more than the bit profile itself. I will also squeeze a fastener on the back side through the wood for retention if I can get the steel to sit in that 1/16" path. I edited the initial post to include some more context and photos. Thank you

[fwharris]

This is because you are doing it as a pattern/raster carve. Look at trying it as a line/vector "cut" with a 1/16" straight cutting bit.

[interloper]

Ok, I just wanted to be sure that if my line is less than 1/16" it'll only pass through that bit once. I'll go ahead and order the 1/16th and give that a try. Thank you

Edit: I see the bits have changed since I last used this. Know if these colleted bits work with my quick change adapters?

[fwharris]

Ok, I just wanted to be sure that if my line is less than 1/16" it'll only pass through that bit once. I'll go ahead and order the 1/16th and give that a try. Thank you

Edit: I see the bits have changed since I last used this. Know if these colleted bits work with my quick change adapters?

Well we got a problem then! CW does not sell any bits for the quick change chuck, only for the CarveTight chuck.

You can maybe try doing the line cut with the 1/16" tapered carving bit since you are not going that deep. Do it on a test piece of wood to see.

[Dirtpan]

This is because you are doing it as a pattern/raster carve. Look at trying it as a line/vector "cut" with a 1/16" straight cutting bit.

How do you make it do a line/vector cut?

[fwharris]

How do you make it do a line/vector cut?

Draw your design using the drawing tools and then assign your bit of choice to the lines/vectors.

Import and image for tracing, draw your lines.

You can also import a DXF file and then assign your bit to the lines/vectors.

If you have a pattern you can do an outline and assign the bit.

[DianMayfield]

The 1/16 cutting bit comes with a split collet, it is not pressed into the standard collet -at least when i purchased them last year.