Greetings All,
I recently designed a curved shape in sketchup and exported it as a .dxf and a .dwg file thinking that my buddy at the cabinet shop could simply import the file into his CAD based CNC program and cut out my piece with minimal effort. This failed miserably and he had to redraw it in his program.
Is it possible for me to design in sketchup and export a usable file for a CNC program? The specific program he uses is called Maestro.
Thanks for your insight.
Cheers
Stuart
What part of it failed?
Did you do a 2D export or a 3D export? For cuves, set up the camera to Parallel Projection and the appropriate standard view. Then use the 3D dxf export.
Second DaveR on 3D dxf export
Ash
One of the files opened up in the CNC program as an absolute mess, I cant remember exactly, just that it was obviously not going to work.
One of them seemed to have worked but it looked like it was a skewed image, which after reading the replies to this, leads me to believe that it exported in the orientation the image was at at the time of export (ie: not parallel projection/standard view). Also, it is possible I did it as a 2D export.
I will try again!
Thank you!
Have a look at https://www.getfabber.com/
It’s the closest thing to a complete CNC export solution that I’m aware of.
Hope this helps
ChrisD
Simple DXF allows you to create simple DXF that are optimized for the cabinet making industry.
I created what I believe to be a clean solid model of the piece I need to be cut, and exported it as per @DaveR suggestions. The image as viewed through chromes dxf viewer is a mess of lines that seem to be radiating out from the center point.
Can anyone advise me on how to best tackle this process?
I just want to design very simple parts in sketchup and have my cabinet maker’s buddy’s CNC machine cut them out. Am I delusional in thinking this could be something I can handle without needing to learn how to use autocad or his SCM CNC machine’s Maestro software?
Thank you kindly @ChrisDizon for your suggestions. It would appear that fabber does not support SCM machines, though I have posted on their forum to confirm, as the post that stated as much was a year or so old.
Thanks for any input you are able to provide.
Cheers
Stuart
CNC Testing - individual models.skp (197.2 KB)
Here is the dxf I created with your part
this is just a 2D part - but I can create it as 3D if that is what you are looking for
part.dxf (932 Bytes)
Thanks. I just downloaded it and attempted to view it through the chrome extension, but nothing showed up?
Sketchup opens part.dxf - however sketchup’s DXF import routine doesn’t handle DXF bulge
QCad imports the DXF just fine and preserves the arc
Simple DXF writes out the DXF file and reads it back into sketchup just fine.
There is a manual that comes with simple DXF
Thanks @gkernan. I just downloaded QCad and was able to open your file part.dxf successfully. To confirm, you did that with Simple dxf then, and not just through sketchup export?
And, Simple DXF is only available as the paid version, no free version?
Not that I am opposed to paying for it, but would like to try it and confirm that it allows me to accomplish what I need to do to get the CNC machine working directly from my provided files, rather than having to utilise the time of the actual CNC programmer at the cabinet shop.
It has a 7 day free trial
