How to create a DXF File for Laser etching/engraving with Fusion 360

[ATö]

Hello,

I need help creating a .dxf file for the laser cutting shop please.

I have successfully made many files for plain laser cutting but this time I want to have text (numbers) laser etched/engraved on the surface of my steel plate. The laser cutter says the text that is to be etched/engraved needs to be in a different color so he can use a filter to differentiate what is to be actually cut and what is only to be engraved. I've did my homework and have extensively(!) searched the web but I can not find a solution. Can anybody help please? Any support would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Andy

[g-andresen]

Hi,

I think he needs different layers.

Separate the file into one for the cuts and the second for the engraving.

günther

[ATö]

Hallo Günther,

(... ich bleib mal beim Englisch, damit der Rest der Welt uns auch versteht :-))

thanks for your reply and the suggested solution/work-around. If it were only one file that may work but I have multiple files and chances are that things could get pretty mixed up. Not even sure if the files would line up exactly. If I could overcome that uncertainty I could nest the parts and create one file for the cuts and one for the engraving/etching but the shop wants to nest the parts themselves :-(.

Cheers (und schönes Wochenende)

Andy

[g-andresen]

Hi Andy,

solving the problem I would first create the cuts and engravings in the manufacture space of Fusion.
Once the  laser has been selected from the tool database and the  laser processing has been created in the setup, "only" the appropriate postprocessor is needed for the machine. A list of the PP can be found here.
If for some reason this is not possible, the laser cutter would have to say which layer name (not the color on the display) is needed for the two operations.
Then one could load the complete DXF into a simple compatible CAD program and assign the cutting and engraving lines to corresponding layers.

kind regards

günther

* maybe the Manufacture Forum is the better place for this question

[RONeil2ZFB9]

Hi Andy,

late to this post now... but could you not just colour code the details - anything to be cut have it as black, and anything to be engraved have it as red? there is no need for separate layers (although this is helpful) and no need for separate files