DXF2GCODE tutorial

I agree. I’m hoping that a few more people try it out and offer suggestions or ask questions. Then the results can be summarised in an actual tutorial/reference.

I’ve had a go at making a Maslow post-processor file for DXF2GCODE. It’s quite simple, and really just consists of removing the codes that Maslow doesn’t recognise. The advantage is that I can call it “Maslow” and it becomes visible in a list.

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I went back an edited my previous post after I looked at the first gcode file I created in the CAMotics simulator and realized I had made several errors. First for tabs the layer needs to be named BREAKS also the DRILL layer works on points not a circle like I had previously drawn.

Layer Names look like this now in LibreCad.

IGNORE: ConstructLines
DRILL: 3 MillDepth: -6.1 ToolDiameter: 6.0 FeedXY: 300 FeedZ: 70
MILL: 1 MillDepth: -6.1 SliceDepth: 2.1 FeedXY: 300 FeedZ: 300
BREAKS: 1 MillDepth: -3 FeedXY: 300 FeedZ: 300

I retook the screenshots and uploaded the corrected files to my previous post. Re-ran the simulator and it now looks correct.

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I am still having issues getting this to install on my pc. It gives me a message that I need some kind of run time environment. Can I just install and use? Other sites indicated installing python but I am unsure about that too. Please advise!

What OS are you on? This is pointing to a dependency, so no it’s not load and go for your system.

Thank you

Could you post the precise error message you are seeing?

I am using Windows 10. Older Dell laptop with 8 gb ram.

Its telling me some kind of VC run time errorVC%20Runtime%20Error

I giggled that error message and amongst the cruft found directions on how to reinstall the Visual C runtime

That DLL file should be copied over to your PC when you install Python 3. Also there is a note in the README.txt: Note: Please do not install python3 version 3.7.x as at the time of writing there is no pyqt5-tools package available for this version of the python. You may want to stick with Python 3.6 if you don’t have Python installed, yet.

Python is new to me. Would I just open dxf2gcode and python automatically open or do I just open python and then dxf2gcode?

The short answer is that Python would just be in the background. You may need to install some other programs if you wish to try working from PDF or ps files (pdftops, pstoedit, ghostscript).

Also, worth mentioning is that the main branch of dxf2gcode does not support pocket milling. There is an older branch in git that does, but sadly for some reason it was never merged into the main branch.

hope this helps

Thank you

Thank you! I’ll check those out.

Thank you!

I just tried DXF2GCODE for the first time and I found it pretty easy to use. However, I don’t see any way to create new layers, or to rename existing layers.

As far as I know that’s correct. DXF2GCODEis a tool that converts DXF to GCODE and that’s all. Creation of layers and renaming of layers is left to the original CAD software that made the original DXF file.

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I finally used post #1 as the basis for a Wiki post. I made some edits, but there’s still a lot to be done to make it complete.

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That’s what I wasn’t getting. Thanks!

I’m a week and a half from being able to test this on our Maslow, but it generated the gcode nicely, and it looks good in a text editor. I might try running it in a simulator.

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Yes, try it in a simulator. But don’t use ncviewer.com, it has a problem with the number format that DXF2GCODE outputs. I have submitted a bug report to ncviewer (that’s where the problem is), but nothing happened.

If cutter compensation is on, the clockwise/counterclockwise feature does not work. It will only go clockwise no matter which direction is set. Is this a problem with anyone else? Ive tried DXF2Gcode from about a half dozen sources and I’m getting the same problem with all of them.