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How to - Making DXF files in CAD


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Glen
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Joined: 16 Jun 2004
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How to - Making DXF files in CAD

I get asked this alot, so heres a guide. i used solidworks 2005 in this tutorial because doing weapon disks and such in rhino is a bit of a pain in the ass.

If you want to have parts waterjet cut or what have you they will most likely specify DXF files.

most places like a 1:1 scale DXF file and charge you extra if you send it to them wrong and they have to redo it.

SO fire up solidworks and make your part. this is the disk on demon.



once shes all complete then save it and go FILE > MAKE DRAWING FROM A PART.



Next you get this window. Click custom sheet size and make the sheet abit bigger then the size of your parts. it really doesnt matter what size it is as long as its larger. The disk is about 300mm diameter so 400 x 400 is good.



Then you will get to the next screen. on the left side menu scroll down to Scale, then check use custom scale and select 1:1. That part is essential! or you might get your parts cut out 10 times smaller Razz



Click somewhere in the middle of the page and the 2d profile of the disk will come up. hit escape as you only want the one. nearly done!



Now save it as a dxf by going to FILE > SAVE AS and then select save as type to dxf as shown and save. this is the file you will send to the waterjet/oxycut etc place.



you dont have to save the drawing itself if you dont want.

Then just send the file on and give them some basic info like the general sizes of the parts in case you screwed up somewhere and didnt pick up on it.

and dont forget to ask them to "blow through off the line" or sometimes they will start the cut on one of the cadded lines so youll get a big semi circle cut in your parts everwhere which will really screw you up. ALA dylons first beater Razz

another thing to take into consideration is accuracy! oxycut cant cut holes very accurately so you need to have them cut undersize and then mill them out bigger later. a waterjet place you mightnt need to do that. so ask first.

done!

feel free to comment or berate me for my lacking solidworks skills haha. or just do one for another program or later copy Smile
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Post Sun Dec 13, 2009 3:00 pm 
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Knightrous
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Also, if getting materials thicker then 3mm cut, ask the waterjet place to do it the job as a Zero Taper cut. They basically angle the water jet so the cutting taper doesn't eat into your part.
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Post Sun Dec 13, 2009 4:56 pm 
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Rob Team Rotwang



Joined: 19 Jun 2004
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Location: Victoria


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This is what information ive picked up so far at my current place of working

Where I work we often have lasercut bits made up at least a few times a week, the usual procedure here at work is ask for a material quotation from at least two lasercutting companies, have to be careful to send them completely seperate emails so they dont get upset, I just write something like "please quote to supply the following profiles as per attached file" We deal with one of two lasercutters, the turn around from each place differs quite a bit, the local guys have about a 3-4 day turn around and the melbourne mob have a 2 day turn around, the difference is the melbourne company runs 24/7, if times not a factor we go with the locals.

From what i heard there is a $80 programming fee, so probubly get more than one part made if you think you will need another run off later, im not sure if they keep their customer job codes on file.

You can also ask to find out in the quote what the maximum amount of parts you can get made for the minimum amount of material cost, probubly more important if your getting small things made. They go through some steps to lay the parts out to get the most out of the material then.

There are heaps of variabilities between lasercutters one of which is their minimal hole size they will cut, some places will cut 5mm holes no problem, but others will send the drawing back and say we cant cut anything smaller than 8mm.

The hole dimensions I sent came back around .3mm larger, if your tolerances are important its better if they cut the holes under dimension as theres a small semi circular blow through so you might need to drill the holes out at least .3mm to clean them up

The last job i did used 8mm stainless steel plate, im sure every place has their maximum material thickness.

I use Autocad at work, i dimensioned my drawing completely, but ive looked at previous jobs on the server here and some arent even dimensioned so maybe thats not needed. Just attach a little note to the drawing with something along the lines of "2 OF EACH DRAWN, 1.2 S/S, GRADE 304, NO 4 FINSIH" or you could draw a side view to indicate the thickness. When asking for quotes i only sent an autocad .DWG file, so maybe we dont send out .DFX because if were happy with the price on the quoted drawing we will have the part made off that .DWG, also like you say its important its 1:1 scale.

The last job i did was a 347mm diameter cover plate for some holding tank its got 7x14mm holes, 2x49mm holes 2x11mm holes made from 8mm stainless plate. The price to customer is $220 inc GST

Post Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:31 am 
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seanet1310



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Rob any idea if the lasercutters would deal with the public with orders or just busnesses like where you work?
Only geelong place ive found is JR Laser Cutting and they sound good on there website at least.
If so any chance i can get the name if u are happy with the work
Did you supply the material or do they source and supply it or use there own stock?
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Post Thu Dec 17, 2009 9:40 pm 
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shreddy



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theres also place called rapidlaser somwhere near that i posted a while ago, they have bisalloy Very Happy
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Post Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:05 pm 
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Rob Team Rotwang



Joined: 19 Jun 2004
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well im fairly sure they will deal with public orders sean, at work we use JR Laser, the email there is to "Trevor Mc Farlane" sales@jrlaser.com and the material was supplied by them as far as i know, since i need to put in the plate thickness and surface finish so they hunt that down or have that on stock

Post Fri Dec 18, 2009 7:33 am 
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seanet1310



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thanks rob.
There websitr makes it sound like they probably do so ill at least check it out if i have nything needing cutting.

One last question are they the ones with the min hole of 5mm or 8mm or something else
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Post Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:14 am 
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Rob Team Rotwang



Joined: 19 Jun 2004
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no problem sean, unsure on hole sizes, i think JR can do 2mm holes, but I havent done anything smaller than 5mm holes since i been here

Post Fri Dec 18, 2009 11:30 am 
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Boba.Thex



Joined: 03 Mar 2010
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Location: Sydney, Australia


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CAD

Hey there dudes,
If there's anythng I can help with in regards to CAD questions then drop me a priv message, or if i see a post I'll have a look.
In my job I develop and support a number of CAD packages including AutoCAD, MicroStation, Solidworks and a number of other packages to a lesser extent.
If you have difficulties with CAD files, perhaps errors I can also take a look to see if I can help.
No worries mate!
/Thex

Post Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:14 pm 
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Dylon



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
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for those that have dwg trueview 2010.. basically im trying to add drawing lines to a dxf drawing such as like mid points and that using object snap.. i did it once before but now for some unknown reason it just keeps coming up unknown command whenever i click on the snap options.
for example this is one of the errors:

_endp Unknown command "ENDP". Press F1 for help.

any help would be great
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Post Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:15 pm 
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Jaemus
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Joined: 01 Apr 2009
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quote:
Originally posted by Dylon:

_endp Unknown command "ENDP". Press F1 for help .

any help would be great


Try pressing F1

j/k Very Happy

Post Tue Apr 06, 2010 10:46 pm 
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Dylon



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haha i did Sad but autodesk fail to give any help on the matter.. ah well just have to do it the long way
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Post Wed Apr 07, 2010 1:13 am 
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