Need help getting from ProE to .sbp

[curtisrb15]

I'm having a local company with a Shopbot cut some parts for me. My material is a 4x8 sheet of plywood. I have all the parts laid out in ProEngineer (ProE). Here's what I've done so far.


I exported the ProE drawing to .dxf.
Opened the .dxf in Inkscape so that I could change some of the line colors to help communicate cut depth for counter bores and other cuts that aren't through holes.
Changed the necessary line colors in Inkscape and exported to .dxf again.

The guy I've been working with said there are many issues with the Inkscape .dxf files including lines being open (not connected) and the scale being incorrect. I sent the native .dxf files exported from ProE but I don't know if he has tried them yet. He said he uses the arc-inch module for generating .sbp files. I don't think I can create a .sbp file since I don't have the necessary software. I'd really like to get some help on the .dxf process or help using a different file type.

The main pain point I have with .dxf is communicating cut depth for non thru cuts - thus the reason for using Inkscape to color-code the cut depth.

I've attached a PDF (exported from Inkscape) for reference. This layout only has a few parts - the other PDF I have is too big for the forum but has way more parts and fills the 4x8 sheet.

If you have a different process or method please let me know. I'd be happy to provide a .dxf file if anyone wants to try and open it.

Thanks!

[Gary Campbell]

Robert...
Can you send me both the ProE and Inkscape DXF of the same file?

email in profile (below left) put shopbot in subject line to get thru spam filter

Does ProE have a layer option? Can you weld/join all before export?

[ken_rychlik]

I'm sure Gary can help.

For the scale, make sure that you are both working in inches, or metric. If you are not both in the same units, there will be trouble with the scale.

I have had files sent to me that were full of open vectors. Their program would not correct it and I had to do all the file repairing and charge them for it. It can be very time consuming.

A simple 2d dxf with notes on how deep each pocket needs to be may help your shop that you are working with unless it acutally is 3d work. It looks like just straight holes in your drawing.

One thing you could do on your end for free is to download a demo copy of Vcarve pro (2d) or Aspire (3d) from vectric.com

Then import what you are sending him into it and you may be able to see what he is seeing. You can't make a toolpath or export files with the demo version but you would be able to get an understading of the troubles.

[ken_rychlik]

Robert,
To give you an idea of what is going on, I took the file into vcarve pro and this is what i get. On one picture you can see one of your circles that I tried to select. Instead of the entire circle turning red, only a small portion of it did. That tells me that the circle is made up of many small segments like this.

As for the overall size, the second picture shows how it is sized on a 48x96 inch sheet.

Good luck with it.

[Gary Campbell]

Robert...
Here is what I found in the ProE dxf:

1) the dxf's native scale appears to be metric. If I import, select metric and then change to inches, it appears OK, but nonetheless, seems to be metric.
2) All non circular geometry is made from individual lines. These lines need to be connected, welded or whatever term your software uses to connect into closed shapes or vectors. These individual lines look good on paper but CAM software requires closed vector shapes to generate the cutting profiles you require.

3) I saw no difference in the " _color" dxf's. same metric import, same open vectors, no color definition of any geometry.

If you do this often, you need to find a way in ProE to make a proper export with closed shapes. If you can export each different depth to a layer, even better. There is no need to go to Inkscape for this type of drawing.

[Steve Howden]

Hi Guys,

A couple of things about DXF files:

#1 DXFs are "unitless". In other words, if you design something in ProE and your units are inches in ProE, then when exporting, 1 DXF unit = 1 inch. So, scale as appropriate at the receivers end.

#2 There are umpteen different "flavours" of DXF export that allow for the different capabilities of varying software. This is due to DXFs evolving as AutoCAD evolved over the years. The situation of arcs being made up of lots of segments is almost certainly due to the export choice. You are exporting curves/splines/arcs as polylines. Look in ProE/inkscape when exporting and choose the version that allows you to send arcs as arcs or splines rather than polylines.

Hope that helps, Steve

[curtisrb15]

Thanks all for the help and feedback.

I posted a couple pictures of the options I have in ProE when I export to a DXF. I still can't figure out how to export so that the lines are linked. Even when I import the dxf back into ProE all the lines are just segments - not connected. The units do show up correctly though. I think Steve Howden is right about DXF files being unitless - "#1 DXFs are "unitless"."

In Inkscape I am able to link lines using the Path>Combine command. That will link the line segments but I don't know that it would fix the circle/hole issue. Those appear to be a single entity in Inkscape and not line segments.

I may try importing to VCarve tonight but it seems like my export method (from ProE is somehow broken). Should normal DXF exports have closed/joined line segments for each of the parts?

Let me know if there is anything else I can try.

[robtown]

Running your files through not one but two flavors of .dxf is never going to go well. dxf approximates curves with teeny tiny line segments, and as you have discovered sometimes it explodes closed shapes.

I'm not sure why you feel you need to color code your lines. The control software uses line colors to control depth of cut, but in 8 years of doing this I've never tried to cut a file that way. I set my cut files up in V-Carve, and a version of V-Carve ships with every shopbot.

I've never used ProE but acceptable file formats for importing into V-Carve are .ai, .eps, .pdf, .dxf, and I believe .dwg. Can you export in any of those other formats?

[curtisrb15]

Running your files through not one but two flavors of .dxf is never going to go well. dxf approximates curves with teeny tiny line segments, and as you have discovered sometimes it explodes closed shapes.

I'm not sure why you feel you need to color code your lines. The control software uses line colors to control depth of cut, but in 8 years of doing this I've never tried to cut a file that way. I set my cut files up in V-Carve, and a version of V-Carve ships with every shopbot.

I've never used ProE but acceptable file formats for importing into V-Carve are .ai, .eps, .pdf, .dxf, and I believe .dwg. Can you export in any of those other formats?

I used Inkscape to change the colors of the lines on my dxf at the request of the shop I am working with - to communicate the depth of cut for non-thru holes. Otherwise I wouldn't have done that.

I attached an exported dwg file. When I import it back into ProE it still appears as individual line segments. Maybe someone can try it and see how it looks in another program.

I also exported to EPS but it is a 90MB file.

I also exported to PDF but it is also too big to upload to the forum. I can email it if anyone is interested in trying the PDF import. This file looks good, maybe that will work.

Thanks agin.

[blackhawk]

Robert - I use Pro/E Wildfire 2.0 in my real job on almost a daily basis. I do not know of anyway to export shapes as closed vectors. For example, a rectangle always exports as 4 individual lines. I have used dxf files from Pro/E to cut items on my Shopbot. I use Vcarve Pro and Aspire software to generate cut files for my Shopbot. The line segments have never been a problem with this software. There is a "join vector" command in both. You simply select all the vectors that need joining, make a few clicks, and they are joined. It has never taken me more than 3 minutes to correct an imported dxf in this way. I export the dxf out of Pro/E with the default settings except I use the "polyline" option.

Ask your local Shopbotter if he has this option in his software. He may just not realize it, if this situation has never came up for him before. In order for him to know all the correct depths, I would just create notes with arrows to callout the various holes. This would be just basic blueprint reading for the local Shopbotter.

[curtisrb15]

Brad - Thanks for the feedback on ProE. I'm using Wildfire4.

I think one of the issues with this job is the Shopbotter I am working with is really swamped right now with other customers. He is trying to get me to do some of the upfront work on the dxf (partly to save me some setup $$ - which I don't mind at all) so that he can avoid the time to do the setup work. I just don't have the knowledge or software required to get it done. I may need to see if he can just do the work and charge me for it or find another Shopbotter.

[robtown]

I used Corel's smart fill tool and redid your file. There's a zip file with the .eps and vcarve files in it here:

www.robtown.com/sbTest/sbTest.zip (http://www.robtown.com/sbTest/sbTest.zip)

I can also send a Corel (X5) file as well. Corel also exports to Illustrator, but it's dodgy.

It's up to you to verify that it's all correct before using... I did not do toolpaths, that would take an additional couple of minutes. Plus, I'd need to know machine particulars and material specs.

[curtisrb15]

Rob W,

Thanks for your help but I don't really have anything to open these files with. I may try the evaluation of VCarve tonight - if so I'll open the file and take a look.

Is VCarve what Shopbot uses for importing files and generating the toolpaths? What about PartWorks?