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.
In the top toolbar, select the "drill hole" icon. This will add a drill hole to your work area.
Once a drill hole is placed, set the depth of the hole in the Cut panel—just like you would for any other shape.
You can also use the alignment tools to make sure your drill holes are placed in the right spot.
Make sure you select your bit properly when using this feature. No matter what bit you select, Easel will generate a path to carve a hole matching the size of that bit. This means that the size of the drill hole is dictated by the size of the bit you select for your project.
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 built up.
Holes are a little different from other shapes in the Easel toolbar. For example, they cannot be combined with other shapes.
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.