When I open an assembly and try to export to DXF using the Save As command there is no DXF or DWG format listed. If I open a part then there is. Why
When I open an assembly and try to export to DXF using the Save As command there is no DXF or DWG format listed. If I open a part then there is. Why
That does not work. Tried selecting different planes, individual surfaces. all surfaces with no luck.
Welcome to SolidWorks forums James.
Not sure why it is not there in assembly but you can save the assembly as part and then save that part as DXF/DWG
OR
Create a drawing with the required view and save as DXF/DWG.
You might also find this post helpful for your future reference.
I just tried it and you are right, you can't export a model into a 2d world. Make it into a drawing,use the view you want to export, remove your borders, change it to 1:1 ratio, and export as a dxf.
That is what I ended up doing but then several details on the drawing were lost. I lost extruded cuts and an extruded boss that was located between two extruded bosses. It disappeared! I just couldn't believe that there wasn't a way to save an assembly as a DXF file directly.
I don't understand, if the detail was in the drawing view that you exported to a dxf, it should have shown up in the dxf.
Was the extruded cut and extruded boss shown in the view that you exported to the dxf?
Was the missing feature an assy cut?
I lost the features mentioned above when I saved the assembly as a part
I don't understand why you saved the assembly as a "part" before taking it into a drawing. If you take the assembly into the drawing, you can even use a section view of the area that you need.
Alot of times I will save an assembly as a part, before I save it as an "igs" or "xt" file so that I can only save the outside features. This creates a dumb solid that a customer can use, without the size of the main file, or mainly without details that I do not believe they need or I want to supply them with.
If you saved the assembly as a part, you may have very well lost these features that you are discussing. There is three options that come up when you save an assembly to a part. try using different ones of these and you may get what you need.
You use the join feature to get a single part that is representative of the assembly.
Insert>component>new part.
create a new part on any surface/plane/planar face. exit sketch mode.
While you are still in edit part mode insert>features>join.
Join all the parts and then open the new joine part on its own and save as .dxf
James,
I have to this this a lot because I am the only one at my company running SW and everyone else is on AutoCAD. When I need to save an assembly to DXF, I will save the assembly as a part, then open the part and save that as a DXF.
Unfortunately any modifications you make to the assembly don't translate over to the part file or DXF and need to be saved again... seems really redundant and unneccessary but I have not had a problem with anything not showig up when doing it that way.
I do this all the time.
I make Assembly in Solidworks
I make drawing of assembly (only view needed for DXF)
I delete all 'sheet format' in the drawing
Save as DXF
Works EVERYTIME
Hi James,
Typically a dxf or dwg file is a flat 2d view, so it needs more information from you as to what view or section you want represented in the dxf or dwg.Try selecting a surface, and see if you can export to a dxf.