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[flameaway]

In order to dig an arbitrarily deep channel very simply and with no casualties...

Simply drive an up/down stairway to the depth required, then designate a 'donut' of channels running from the top to the bottom.

These channels will cover the entire 3x3 structure.  Make sure to remove the designation from the central stair well.

The miner/s will start at the bottom and stand on the stairway while channelling, very rapidly, up to the top.

When they are finished you are left with a 3x3 hole with stairwell in the middle.

This is kind of handy because you can drive a shaft and put a mason at the bottom making blocks and cabinets from your newly created (and non exploitive) quantum rockpile.  Saves room and a bunch of hauling.

For bigger holes, either use more stairwells or just drive a new 3x3 shaft right next to an existing one.

[Minnakht]

I think I'd rather make a 3x3xhowever many z levels channel designation, then designate the up/down stairs over it, replacing the center. Sounds better than designating donuts.

That said, sounds nice. Now I just have to find an use for having a hole with a stairwell in it.

[TKGP]

Alternately, you can just designate an arbitrarily large block with "dig", leaving just floors behind, then cave-in a ring over the top. Knocks out all the floors connecting the inner tiles to the wall, so they all collapse into a nice big pile of nothing. If you want stairs in the middle, just drop a second ring encircling the staircase to remove the support there.

[flameaway]

Yeah that designation method works better.

As for uses...

I drive a shaft right next to a handy volcano.  Then I set up an iron pump powered by a windmill, up there.

At the bottom I dig a 17x17 holding pool.  I dig another 17x17 room on top of the pool and channel a nice pattern of magma workshop positions.

I d-zed the ramps at the bottom of the shaft, which allows me to build a support there.  At the top of my original channel I left a one tile floor to walk across.  A miner channels out the bottom up stair case and everyone leaves.  The last dwarf out channels out that one floor at the top.  Now I have a free standing 40 something level cave- in just waiting to happen at the pull of a lever.

That's pretty useful.  Or I can just pull the lever, set up a safety pressure plate that detects magma somewhere along the shaft and toggle on the gear assembly that powers my iron pump. The shaft fills with magma and runs along whatever pathway I set up for it.  Now instead of having all my forges 40 z-levels away they are right next to my chow-hall. And I didn't have to 'discover' the magma sea and kill a miner in the process.

I also have my miners throw all the ore they dig out way up there down another shaft covered by a little 3x3 bridge one level up from my metalworks so my that smelters can access the huge pile of rock that they didn't have to carry. No mine carts, or much dwarf hauling.

When they run out of ore on the bottom level, I lock the access doors at the bottom and retract the bridge; and dump another load of stone and ore down into the hole at the bottom.  Where my masons and metalsmiths can make use of it without having to run all over the map.

Handy, instead of clearing alot of horizontal space, you acheive the same effect by driving one small shaft through many z-levels right where you most want all your rock and ore to be.

[flameaway]

@TKGP

Hadn't thought of that.

 I use the small shaft method mostly for dual purposing an infrastructure dig with putting ore/stone on a particular spot.

Have to try out your way for big channeling jobs.

*Edit:

I'm pretty sure that the small shaft method will complete the same big channeling job more quickly than the dig and ring channel method you discuss.  If I have understood it correctly you have to dig out every z-level before taking them all out with one drop from above.  Using the small shaft, the miners only actually dig out the bottom level of each shaft and the bottom level of the area being dropped.  The rest of the way up they are merely knocking out floors, I suspect that is why these things dig so quickly.


hFhhFh
hXhhXh  and so on around edges of the area to be taken out.


Left with this:

F = floor tile connecting stairwells with stable ground.

X = stairwells

h = open space

P = area to be dropped.

hFhFhFhFhFhFhF
hXhXhXhXhXhXh
PPPPPPPPPPPPPP
PPPPPPPPPPPPPP

Might be interesting to test.

[TheCoolSideofthePIllow]

I found a better solution:

Edit d_init.txt and set CAVEINS to NO.

:p

[i2amroy]

Personally I just always dig layer by layer. In big enough rooms it doesn't take that much management, you just need to check every minute or so and designate the next layer for channeling.

[Veylon]

I just had the pleasure of designating a 1x1 vertical stack of "channel" with success, leaving me a perfect, uncluttered shaft with which to hurl ore/flux to my forges below.

[Crashmaster]

I like to get the miners stuck in the hole with some food and drink (or drop it to them) so that they have to live in the shaft until it is done.