What program is everyone using to convert STL to DXF. Thanks
You can use fusion 360 to make a dxf of a face or profile, but stl to dxf I wouldn’t think it all that common.
If that doesn’t get you what you want give us some more details and we’ll see what else can be done.
I’ve tried a thousand different ways and have yet to come up with a decent way of doing this.
There’s a plugin for AutoCad inventor that’s supposed to do it, but depending on the complexity, it usually fails.
Try slicer for fusion. It will cut the model in as smany slices as you want and make .dxf files from those slices.
I have a method that works well for me, but it does involve using 1 commercial product, TurboCAD Deluxe. I have version 21, which is not the latest. I open the STL file in TurboCAD, select the object, then explode it. If there are multiple parts in the model, I sometimes have to explode more than once. Any flat surfaces are turned into polylines. If you explode too many levels, you will end up with individual lines & not continuous polylines. I save that file as a DWG or DXF & open it in DraftSight. Set my view to Front, Back, Left or Right & delete all the lines showing up vertical. I then delete horizontal lines that would be duplicated when viewing from plan view. I usually have to orbit view around the model some before deleting any horizontal lines to make sure I am not deleting what I need. Depending on how complicated the part is, this usually only takes me a few minutes.
Inkscape works well.
I don’t think anyone has mentioned OnShape yet. You’d have to import the STl, and make a sketch on the face you want the dxf from, then find the “use” tool and click all the things you want to show up in the dxf, and then export the sketch as dxf. Not the easiest way, maybe, but it’s free, cross platform, and conceptually, I can’t imagine an automatic way to do it.
Thanks everyone Basically im wanting to finish the LCD case ends. I was able to use the DFX file provided here and adjust the setting for the wood I was cutting. But that was only for the Left side. Now I want the Right side and I dont want it to take a hour cutting.
That’s what I usually do when I want to edit a stl. I know Fusion and Tinkercad can work with a mesh directly - but I generally prefer having the full geometry recreated natively since it opens up more options for modifications.
Here’s a little video I did showing the basic process in Onshape:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9K5f6zzb1k[/youtube]
Once you get the hang of it it goes really quickly. I’ve actually redone some very complex designs in an hour or two.
If I want to export a cross section of an STL as a DXF, I usually just import into Tinkercad. You can orient the model and then sink into the workplane. Export as DXF and the cross section at the workplane level is exported as a DXF. I’ve had a couple of instances where there were some artifacts to clean up afterwards, but it is quick and effective the vast majority of the time.
None of these methods are really great because you have to select each time which slice you want to export.
It would be nice to have a tool who could do it for the whole design.
For instance, just select a face view (top, front, right, whatever), then what you see on the screen is what you get as a DXF, it just has to export the same lines.
I have no idea how complex this operation would be to code, but the manual “DIY” way would be to make a screenshot, then use a vectoring tool to convert into a SVG of DXF file.
Too bad it doesn’t seem to exist, it is quite a pain to do several slicings every time.
This is one of the reasons, people are willing to release stl files. They work great for printing but just enough. If you have a parasolid file or better than you can just take a face and export it no problem. Stl is a built in security feature of being hard to deal with because of all the dam triangles.
What did you use to make the DFX file for the left side of the LCD Screen case in your intermediate right up? Or can you share the Right side as well.
I exported straight from my SolidWorks design file.
The other side is just mirrored. You can either mirror the dxf and not cut the card slot or make the tool paths and mirror them. Let me know if you have any issues.
What about the notch for the knob? Or is it really needed?
That would be a 3D cut, better to do that by hand if it is needed, but not all the knobs do. I am actually not sure the best way would be to accomplish such a small 3D cut into the piece. Obviously you can load the stl and cut the whole file that way but it takes forever to do. Ideal would be a complete pocketed out part and then just a 3D path at the end but I really am not sure if that can be done.
Dang the software has come so far in less than a year. I need to revisit all of my tutorials soon.
okay bare with me im having one hell of a time mirroring this thing DXF. Im using Estlcam and its just not working. I fell Lost at this point lol
When you select mirror you have two options, the tool path (the red square) or the dxf (the regular square). I usually do the tool paths and then mirror them for some reason. Just did it yesterday. Today I rotated some lowrider parts in the same way.
free cad 0.16 will do that you open the .stl turn the face you want to export to top surface and export to dxf been a while so check it out