I am designing a faceplate for a project I am working on. I want a fully cutout hole where the digital screen will sit behind, but I also want to add a decorative pocket inset around the hole. I’d think you’d pocket first, except that I’ll be wasting a ton of time pocketing what will become a hole once the contour is cut. Hence my question… is there a way to cut the contour hole, tell the CNC to PAUSE, remove that piece, then start again just with the pocket operation…and how do I get Carbide Create to recognize the fact that it no longer has to pocket what isn’t there anymore… just a few mm inset? Thanks in advance for any help.
Can you just create a pocket that is the space between two concentric rectangles?
That would indeed solve the issue (I think)… but how do you do that???
Select both rectangles and make a pocket toolpath.
Sorry for the lack of detail…I don’t use CC, but I just tried that on an older version.
Awesome, thank you! Man, sometimes the answers are obvious… but you have to “THINK” like the machine! 
THANKS!!!
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one gotcha is that the pocket will strictly be within the area, and you get to deal with the tool being round not square, so it might leave few pieces behind in corners.
easy solution: do an inset of the inner area by half the tool diameter and use that instead
it overcuts a little (half tool diameter) but it’s cleaner
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