Fusion 360 export to laser cutter

Tags: #<Tag:0x00007fa494b1e0a0>
#1

Continuing the discussion from First laser cutter project:

As a reply to @Brendon_Hatcher and in case someone else found it useful, here is how I got an SVG out of Fusion 360.

This depends on the Shaper plugin (a CNC router tool), so install it first.
First I draw a sketch of what I want, all nicely parameterized.

image
image.png979×524 97.2 KB

On the utilities tab I open the plugin

image
image.png857×203 22.2 KB

On the plugin, tick advanced if it isn’t already and choose Sketch profiles, and click the profile/s you want to save (See above the blue selected bit).
image

That’s all there is to it!

#2

Why not using the dxf natively from fusion to ruby?

1 Like
#3

I tried but it didn’t seem to recognize the file

#4

Ok, you can save it to dwg on illustrator, we should have a license on the lasercut pc

#5

Fusion DXF export is a little tricky but sound. What isn’t sound is Ruby’s DXF import. Ideally you create a manufacture model with components laid flat (there’s a tool for this but it’s paywalled), then use the CAM laser cutter tools to generate DXF’s.

DXF is not a unitless format, but dimensions are not accompanied with a unit. The unit should be set in the $INSUNIT header on a component level. I can’t remember for sure but I think fusion sets this to mm, which is correct.

Ruby uses a proprietary CAD conversion library whose name I have forgotten. I stopped my investigation here, I decompiled Ruby server and found the class that is probably at fault, but without attaching a debugger to a working Ruby instance I wasn’t able to go any further.

You can import DXF’s into Ruby but the unit information is not interpreted properly, so the scaling will be wrong. If you’re going to manually rescale, then you need to be careful as Fusion will have accounted for kerf, so the dimensions might not be what you think they are.

(Q: Does JobControl also import DXF wrong?)

Until I pinpoint the issue with Ruby I’ve been using the glowforge postprocess that produces an SVG.

#6

I normally right click on the sketch and export it as dxf, then illustrator into ai or dwg… Never had an issue

#7

Well, the point of my original post is that you can export to SVG without having to open illustrator or inkscape.

1 Like
#8

Yes, avoiding any other tool is an advantage.

Also exporting a sketch is a limited subset of fusions capabilities, it won’t account for kerf so your cuts will come out slightly smaller than they should. If you’re dealing with a multi-component file there isn’t a single sketch to export.

2 Likes
#9

Fair point. I guess one only being doing single pieces where I didn’t have to think about kerf.

#10

There a plugin for fusion ( still to be tested) that account for the kerf… “Dxf to laser”.
But as it was specified, Ruby doesn’t work well with dxf