9 Replies Latest reply on Jun 16, 2013 12:53 PM by Chris Dordoni

Any Way to Import Splines to DXF?

Mike Esposito Jun 5, 2013 3:56 PM

Hi, y'all. I read you guys all the time.

I tried to search here for my answer, but no-go.

I've sent my Amada guy many drawings- lines and circles. Geometric shapes. All worked well

But I think this is the first time, I sent him a bird. We do custom sheet metal work, on occasion, and I had to draw a big bird...Needless to say, it had a LOT of splines.

When he opened it in dxf, on the Amada, the only lines on his screeen were straight and radii. But a couple of small splines seemed to form.

I tried "save splines as polylines", and a couple more appeared. But still, half of drawing is missing?

Any fix? (Bear in mind I'm still a semi-rookie)

Thanks as always, Mike

Re: Any Way to Import Splines to DXF?

Ian Banfield Jun 5, 2013 8:08 PM (in response to Mike Esposito)

Hi Mike,
I have had the same problem, if Amada can read in DWG file it may work.
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Re: Any Way to Import Splines to DXF?

Davif Dsdas Jun 5, 2013 8:51 PM (in response to Mike Esposito)

Try to save to higher version of autocad dxf files.
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Re: Any Way to Import Splines to DXF?

Mike Esposito Jun 6, 2013 9:00 AM (in response to Mike Esposito)

Thank you, Ian and Davif, for answering... - Also, someone named "Ann" in my email box, but not on here.

Nothing seems to work!.. First, as far as I can tell, the Pro-Fab program for the sheet metal punch won't open a DWG.
Next, I tried "higher versions of dxf".
I'm not sure what that meant, but when I saved it in Solidworks as a DXF, went to "options", under "Versions" it listed, R12, R13, R14, 2000-2002, 2003-2004, and 2007, which I have been using. There are no later versions listed.

I also tried "save splines as polylines", I tried "TrueType", instead of "AutoCAD Standard", and for Line Styles, I tried "Solidworks Custom" instead of AutoCAD Standard.....
I don't see any other saving options!

There has GOT to be a way, to convert splines to dxf. How do all these Sheet metal parts get manufactured, that don't have perfect radius', and straight lines, in their geometry?

Please, if anyone hears or knows any more info, please let me know!

Thanks, Mike
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- Re: Any Way to Import Splines to DXF?
  
  John Burrill Jun 6, 2013 9:29 AM (in response to Mike Esposito)
  
  Try an R12 dxf. This will convert the splines to 3D polylines. R12 didn't have curve fitting for 3D polylines, so the curves will be aliased into individual segments.
  You can also try writing an HPGL plot file from AutoCAD (there's a special printer driver for that) and see if you can feed that directly to the amada.
  Just out of curiosity, is this a laser cutter or a punch?
  
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  - Re: Any Way to Import Splines to DXF?
    
    Chris Dordoni Jun 6, 2013 4:26 PM (in response to John Burrill)
    
    DXF R12 with arcs is still the best choice for 2d cutting/machining. I believe the issue is there can be some difference in the conversion of a spline to arcs depending on the software. Therefore, most services want the user to take responsibility for doing the conversion.
    
    If you don't have AutoCAD to convert the spline to (poly) arcs, TurboCAD 20 can do this (look down near the bottom of the page in the link)
    http://www.turbocad.com/TurboCAD/TurboCADWindows/TurboCADDeluxev20/NewFeatures/tabid/1877/Default.aspx
    
    I have not tried TurboCAD 20 myself, so I suggest downloading the trial to see how it works for this.
    
    If you just need this one file done, post it here and I'll do it for you for free.
    
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    - Re: Any Way to Import Splines to DXF?
      
      Chris Dordoni Jun 7, 2013 1:35 PM (in response to Chris Dordoni)
      
      I installed the trial for TurboCAD Deluxe 20. The spline to arcs conversion works well and has options for the tolerance of the conversion.
      Its worth the $130 just for this feature (if you don't have AutoCAD) as there are other spline to arc converters that cost about the same or more, and you get a CAD program that has a lot of the functionality of AutoCAD.
      
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Re: Any Way to Import Splines to DXF?

Brian Ross Jun 7, 2013 2:23 PM (in response to Mike Esposito)

You can use Draftsight, a free product from Dassault, to generate the dwf files from dwg files. www.draftsight.com
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- Re: Any Way to Import Splines to DXF?
  
  Chris Dordoni Jun 7, 2013 3:48 PM (in response to Brian Ross)
  
  I had not tried DraftSight and I installed it to see if it could handle the spline to arc conversion. Unfortunately, it can't as far as I could determine by checking the Help and saving a few files. I saved a spline to DXF R12 format and it ended up as a bunch of small line segments. There are no options in the DXF export other than version.
  
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  - Re: Any Way to Import Splines to DXF?
    
    Chris Dordoni Jun 16, 2013 12:53 PM (in response to Chris Dordoni)
    
    Here's another conversion program, even less expensive, http://www.cadkas.com/dxf-splines-to-arcs.php
    
    Thanks to James Gibson for the reference.
    
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