Fusion 360 output to laser cutters

[7P332B5QTVW4MF]

I like Fusion 360, but outputting my designs to a fabrication tool is still more difficult than it could be.

All of the lasers cutter I have used from a $4k Full Spectrum to a $40K Trotec have painful software interfaces and exclusively use a fake printer driver to capture cutting geometry from a CAD tool. None of them have DXF import by default. 

When I currently design a laser cut part in Fusin 360, I export a DXF. Then I need a seperate program to view that DXF, assign line weights and colors for cutting, and then "Print" the file to the laser driver and interface. The problems with this workflow is DXFs don't carry unit data, so Inkscape and other import them at the wrong scale. Adding another bit of software slows down a fast pace design/prototype iteration cycle. I also have not found an adequate DXF viewer. (Suggestions for one would be nice, but this post is to fix Fusion 360.) 

Here is my improvement for Fusion 360 and laser cutters. I would like to choose any 2D geometry to laser cut. Right now that is limited to exporting single DXFs as a sketch and combining two sketches into one requires every sketch instance  be individually selected to be Projected onto the laser cutting sketch. I would also like to select body faces for cutting. Unwrapping simple surved surfaces for cutting would be nice too. The Drawing features could be used here to create a special drawing mode that allows the user to set the page size to match the material size, change cut lines to specific color and weight, and set raster engravings to balck fills. Then we can hit CTRL+P and send this drawing to the laser "printer" driver.

[brianrepp]

@7P332B5QTVW4MF Nice suggestion - are you ok if i move this over to our IdeaStation for others to vote on it?

[TrippyLighting]

Yes, please put this into the idea station. This is a good one.

[HughesTooling]

Just some notes on units\scale. I just tested exporting a 1" square in inches and a 25.4mm square with the document set to mm. Looking in the DXF file with notepad there is unit info in the file, here's a screen grab.

Reimporting the files works correctly, if I have an Inch document and use the new insert DXF function both files come in as 1", if I set the units in the document to mm both import as 25.4. I also did the same test exporting from Rhino and got the same results. So Fusion does read and write the units in DXF files, if it doesn't import into other programs correctly the problem must be in the other programs!

Here's the result of importing a Inch file into ZW3d, ZW3d is set to mm.

I've attached my test files.

Mark

inTest.dxf

mmTest.dxf

inTestRhino.dxf

[PhilProcarioJr]

I export dxf files from Fusion 360 to Inkscape and use the print driver for my full spectrum laser with complete accuracy all the time...almost everyday.

So this workflow completely works.

What I can say is it would be nice to be able to send directly to the full spectrum software and skip the using other software step so I will vote for this.

I just wanted to say that the dxf to Inkscape to full spectrum does indeed work with accurate results.

I had been planning on doing a tutorial at some point...hopefully soon.

[7P332B5QTVW4MF]

Yes, please!

[fonsecr]

We have some posts configured which output SVG which can then be imported into other applications.

e.g.

http://cam.autodesk.com/posts?p=epiloglaser

This particular post is set up to generate SVG embedded in HTML by default. So you have to turn off "embedInHTML" property in the post dialog. And you also need to change the extension to SVG.

This post is intended to allow direct printing but depending on the application used to print, the content might be incorrectly converted. So you might need to import into Inkscape. To get it to work for you. But at least the post can be set up to generate the desired thicknesses and colors and default placement that you need automatically so you only need minimal manual work within Inkscape.

René

[MattWynn]

fonsecr's postprocessor is used with the Waterjet / laser / plasma operation in CAM, where you can select body edges - much more powerful than dxf output.

[odolyte]

This would be so helpful ! i would have give it a +10 if i could !

[MattWynn]

 @7P332B5QTVW4MF, did you trry Waterjet / laser / plasma operation in CAM and the SVG postprocessor?  

[7P332B5QTVW4MF]

I don't know how to use a post processor that was designed for the laser. Fusion360 won't allow me to post process a file without a toolpath, and I can see no way to make a toolpath for a laser/water jet. 

Where can I browse the available post processors? I usually only see a list of post processors when I am posting toolpaths.

I'm really sorry for how stupid I look here. I have lots of experience with the machines, but it feels like your all using a different program from this side. I am pretty lost. My hackerspace just got a laser cutter and I really want the members to use this awesome and powerful CAD tool, but right now I can't get any data out and into the print spooler.

[7P332B5QTVW4MF]

@HughesTooling Your test was very helpful. I'm not sure where my units are going wrong. I'm often off by 10% or so when I import. 

[MattWynn]

See 'About Waterjet' in the CAM learning section, Learning / Fabrication / CAM Help Topics / CAM Reference.  The Waterjet/Laser/Plasma cutting (WLPC) operation is in preview, so you have to turn it on.

[7P332B5QTVW4MF]

@fonsecr Thanks for this post. I was able to load it into my cloud posts, enable the waterjet feature, and post a file.

I tried many options, but all the files I generated were short and ended with this line: !Error: Failed to post data.

I'm not sure where I'm going wrong. I might put this down for a few months and see if anything improves after the semester is over.

[fonsecr]

The actual error will be visible in the CAM Task Manager by clicking the post task log.

E.g. if you try to output toolpath which is side compensated you would get an error like this:

Compensation in control is not supported.

René

[7P332B5QTVW4MF]

@fonsecr In the CAM Task Manager I see the job appear and then disappear when it fails, the Log button is not enabled at any point. Is there somewhere else to see the log?

[fonsecr]

The log file is also stored with the generate NC program.

However, try to turn off Auto Remove on Completion in the CAM Task Manager from the right click menu. Shouldn't be required for failing tasks, though.

And then try to post again. You can then double click the fails post processing task to see the details.

René

[7P332B5QTVW4MF]

I don't see a log file on the Desktop where I saved the .nc (or .html) file to.

The error was as you suggested: 

Error: Compensation in control is not supported.

I turned that off and I got a HTML file with an SVG! Perfect. Is there a written guide for this process, or shold I write something up when I teach it?

[fonsecr]

I havnt tested if this particular SVG post works fully without manual actions by the user. E.g. the user should not be required to adjust colors and thicknesses manually. If there is something that needs to be adjusted for the post you can let us know. And we can add the relevant notes in the post/post library.

I dont have separate document for the post.

Rene

[7P332B5QTVW4MF]

My last question, which relates to my OP, is there a way to raster etching with this post? I can't find it. That would be a nice feature and would only require outputting text or decals as a black filled shapre, or even a high res bitmap. The laser software must handle the rastering control.

[fonsecr]

Not at the moment since the strategy can only generate the outline paths to follow. And not a filled area.

But I do know this would be nice to have for laser cutters. But not on our plan for now.

Rene