Before you get started carving in Easel, you’ll need to install Easel Local. This is a program that allows Easel to communicate with your machine. The first time you click the "Carve" button in Easel, you’ll be prompted to download and install the latest version of Easel Local. Make sure you complete the entire installation process after downloading Easel Local to your computer.
Easel Local is for Mac and Windows only. If you’re using Linux, you’ll need to use a program like Universal G-Code Sender (UGS) to send g-code to your machine. You can export your design’s g-code directly from Easel to use in UGS.
Once Easel Local is installed, turn on your machine's power supply and plug the USB into your computer. If the "Carve" button in the upper right corner of Easel is green, click "Carve" to get started! If the "Carve" button is blue, you'll need to troubleshoot a few things to connect to your machine.
Our “pre-flight” walkthrough helps ensure that everything goes smoothly with your carve. Just follow the instructions in the walkthrough: clamp your material, confirm your bit size, and home your machine in the lower left corner of the material. You can use the Machine Controls in Easel to jog your machine along all three axes.
The home position corresponds with the black dot in the lower left corner (0, 0) of Easel’s work area. This means you do not need to always clamp your material in the lower left corner of your machine. If you prefer, you can clamp your material in the middle of your waste board or start your carve away from the edge of your material. The point you select when manually homing your machine will always correspond with the black dot (0, 0 coordinate) in Easel, regardless of where you home your machine.
After homing your machine to the start (you can use the machine controls to move your machine around), Easel will raise the bit and you can turn the spindle on. From there, there’s nothing left to do but start carving!
While your design is carving, you can keep an eye on how much the job progressed. You can also pause or cancel the job through this panel.
