Exporting problem with Inventor to AutoCAD

[sltyler]

I've been running into this problem when exporting from Inventor 2014 to AutoCAD Mechanical 2014: whenever I "export face" to .dxf, certain lines and/or arcs come in as hundreds of vertices. This creates significant slow down on the plasma table and burns through consumables much more quickly. To manually remove all of the extraneous vertices is extremely tedius and time consuming. Any ideas on how can I fix this? We usually export to the old R12 DXF format.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! It sounds like a file-specific behavior. Could you post it here or send it to me via email (johnson.shiue@autodesk.com)?

Thanks!

[Cadmanto]

I know I have run into issues with Autocad Mechanical in the past.  If you have access to regular Autocad have you tried exporting with that?

I would just be curious to see if this is a program issue or a file issue.

If this solved your issue please mark this posting "Accept as Solution".

Or if you like something that was said and it was helpful, Kudos are appreciated. Thanks!!!! 

     

[sltyler]

Sorry for my slow response time on this. I've attached the .ipt and the .dxf files. Thanks for the help.

[sltyler]

Unfortunately, I only have access to AutoCAD Mechanical.

[sltyler]

Does anyone have any ideas?

[FireBallFab]

Opening both of these in Inventor 2014 showed no problems. Is it your export settings?

[jddickson]

I know this is not ideal but this should work for you.

1. You have to Export it as a newer Dwg. File
2. Open file in AutoCAD Mechanical
3. Use flatten Command on all lines; click “Y” to remove hidden lines.
4. If you want you can turn them into a Polyline after and join them together.
5. Save file as any dxf format that you need.

I hope this helps

Thanks

JD

[sltyler]

Thanks for the response. I see a "FLATSHOT" command but no flatten command. I'm using AutoCAD Mechanical 2014. I attempted to use flatshot, but really have no clue how to use it properly. I just get an error that says there are no solids that can be projected.

[jddickson · Accepted solution]

You need to install “express tools” (it has a lot of extra features that come in handy like the flatten command). For some reason it does not in stall by default.

First go to Programs and Features in your Control Panel. Select AutoCAD Mechanical 2014 and then click the Uninstall/Change button.

 

Next click the Add or Remove Features button.

The last step you need to do is hit the next button and then select the Express Tools to install

[sltyler]

Very helpful! Thanks a lot for all the help everyone!