Best workflow to get 2D .dxf from objects

[Helmi74]

Hi,

i have a project coming closer where i need to mill out stuff from sheeets on a portal cnc mill. The stuff is planned to be design and constructed in Fusion360 which works well for me - already did some testing.

Problem is that there's no production-ready CAM ready for Fusion360. That's not the biggest problem as i have some CAM solutions on hand that fit quite well into what i need but they all need to load 2D Vectors prior to toolpath creation and i have no clue how to get 2D Vectors from what i have in Fusion360.

My stinky old Sketchup had a dxf import/export plugin that was able to export 2D DXF. I had to set the view to point perpendicular on my sheets and set the view to parallel so i could export my 3D modelled sheets into 2D outlined DXF files. Not a very suitable way and surely there's much better ways in professional Software like Solidworks, Inventor and others but it looks like there's not even that messy way in Fusion360, right?

(If you think "why doesn't he add this as an idea" - i already did a while ago http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Request-a-Feature-Fusion-360/Export-Sketches-to-vector-drawing-formats...

So what would be a possible way for now? How would one get a 2D Vector from something designed in Fusion360? Export into any other 3D format and use $thirdpartyfreeware as a proxy? 

Has anyone yet tried? I'd love to hear any input and still hope there will be a native 2D export in fusion anytime soon 🙂

Frank

[deyop]

We are working on a method of saving a sketch to a DXF format.  The method would be similar to "Save as STL" with the selection of a body.  The selected sketch would include a "Save as DXF" option in the context menu.  If multiple sketches are selected they would be included in a single DXF.  They could be separated into different layers.  From this conversation it appears the DXF is needed for CAM requirements.  Any other issues we should be considering?  The DXF would be saved locally. similar to STL.  Is that your expectation?

I saw your comments on the issue of units and am investigating a solution.

Let us know your thoughts.

[Helmi74]

Hey deyop,

thanks for jumping in. This is exactly what would be of great use. As projection would make it easy to generate such a sketch from solid bodies this is exactly what would help.

Also the multi-selection for multiple layers is a good idea. That helps keeping different outlines seperated for easier CAM work.

Yes indeed (at least for me) DXF export is needed for CAM work. This also unfortunately is CAM work that is currently not supported with CAM360 so using a different tool and feeding it with 2D vectors really is a critical feature for me and most probably also for others that are planing to do 2D milling (or otherwise cutting) their design parts.

One important thing that first comes to my mind for DXF export is quality of the vectors. You should be careful that "closed loop" vectors are also closed in the resulting DXF. This is something often happens with different CAD tools that closed vectors like rectangles or circle end up beeing "open" on DXF export. I don't know how this closed/open refers to in the DXF format but i'm sure you know what i'm talking about. These closed vectors are critical for further CAM operations.

Let me know if i can be of any assist with further details of the feature - i'll be glad to help or test.

P.S.: what is "Slice Sketch"? 😉

[deyop]

Thanks for the feedback.

"Sliced" cuts all the bodies in the workpace along the plane of the selected sketch.  This can be helpful in removing obstructions to view and visualizing the sketch relationship with bodies.

[rada.mar]

Hey,

The solution presented by Phil.E works fine but it's totally not practical if you want prototype fast, export the faces and go to cut.

The way Inventor does seems pretty good, just click on the face of the body you want to export them save the DXF file, also there is an Options for selecting the DXF properties.

Do you have any idea when this new feature will be available? 

[rada.mar]

So I've been thinking in another feature for this dxf exporting issue.

Will be very useful to have a mode where you can pack togheter all the faces you want to export, move them around, rotate and them export one only dxf file ready to lasercut, waterjet, etc.

the faces must be linked to the original faces and as you modify your desing the faces on this dxf skecth mode change to.

This is a workaround based on the commum procedure to cut something, export the all the vectors, packing all the sketches over the material sheet area, exporting a new dxf and go to cut it.

[Helmi74]

Organizing everything on the sheet area is definitely something your CAM software should do but a collective export for all faces/sketches would definitely be great so you could easily reexport everything after making changes to some stuff.

[deyop]

When you say faces are you you saying any of the edges associated with a face?  I assume that is all the CAM is really interested in.  As we are using sketches to hold the output we may need to project faces to the sketch prior to Save as DXF.

I want to make sure we are capturing the quality issue Helmi 74 raised.  Does anyone have a test file (3DF) they would like us to try?  We can run it and provide the output for validation.

[Helmi74]

For me personally sketches would be better than faces as you can still project other features to the sketch that is not planar with the face - you don't get that with faces.

I don't have an example file ready but you could either just send me an export of some closed loops or i can send make a file ready tomorrow (have to leave the house in a minute for today).

If you want send it to frank(-at_)helmschrott(_dot-)de or leave me a note and i'll prepare a file with some sketches tomorrow.

[Phil.E]

I agree, faces would be problematic if fillets and chamfers are used around edges. You would need to project the thru holes manually.

Why no both? Face > dxf out, and Sketch > dxf out?

[deyop]

Here are two DXF files returned from your test file.  It should now output the units based on the document units, in this case millimeters.  I confirmed that with two other applications so please check your downstream application.  

It looked like you created the sketch data by selecting the face from the body.  In the case of the side plane that returned a coordinate space that was not aligned with the origin (see image).  That seemed to happen as a result of selecting the face.  Seems like it should be aligned with the edges but for some reason it looks like it aligned to one side of the hexagon.  The resulting DXF file indeed used that coordinate space to define the sketch space (see image).  I project the face onto an origin plane which applied the expected (for me) result.

 

[Helmi74]

Hi Paul,

thanks for coming back so quick with that.

Regarding the sketch alignment: You are right. Funny thing is from a UI/UX perspective that you don't see this anyhow. Only if i slelect "look at" from the context menu it rotates the view according to the rotated X/Y coordinates. Maybe you should think about showing the coordinate system orientation of the sketch anywhere - or is it there already and i just didn't see that?

Apart from that the DXF files look good with one exception: Closed loops are not joined. I can select every segment of loops like the long worm on the sideplane as a single element. Of couse you could always join them later in other tools (like Autocads "JOIN" command) but it would be better if Fusion360 would export closed loops as they are - closed.

i will attach the "joined" sideplate for reference. To see the difference select one of the closed loops (for example the outline or anything else in a program like AutoCAD).

[rada.mar]

that's seems preety awesome! looking foward to have this feature on fusion.

[deyop]

I see your point about joining closed lines.  Why just closed lines?  Shouldn't any elements that are connected be joined?  Seems like that would be the general case.

[Helmi74]

you are right paul, of course. I've just used the "closed line" terminus here because it's the most critical part when milling. If circles for example aren't closed the CAM software can't determine which is outer or inner milling line. On open lines you normally mill "on the line" so you could easily select multiple segments and combine them to one path.

But in the end it would always be better to have everything combined/joined of course.

[mike.novello]

"If multiple sketches are selected they would be included in a single DXF"

This, as of yet is not possible, unless I'm doing something wrong. Only a single sketch may be exported into a dxf.

Can anyone confirm if this is in fact possible? My setup requires multiple layers for machining, each layer is a different machining process dependant on the layers title.

Thanks

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@deyop wrote:

We are working on a method of saving a sketch to a DXF format.  The method would be similar to "Save as STL" with the selection of a body.  The selected sketch would include a "Save as DXF" option in the context menu.  If multiple sketches are selected they would be included in a single DXF.  They could be separated into different layers.  From this conversation it appears the DXF is needed for CAM requirements.  Any other issues we should be considering?  The DXF would be saved locally. similar to STL.  Is that your expectation?

I saw your comments on the issue of units and am investigating a solution.

Let us know your thoughts.

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