GRRR.. PlasmaCAM Vs Autocad

I'll give you a little history, and tell you what I'm up against.

I am drawing up a bumper for a Dodge truck, to be cut out of 3/16th aluminum plate, it's drawn in Autocad 2011, but I'm having a misery importing the drawing to PlasmaCam.. it's NOT the DesignEdge software, it's the old school stuff (Version 3.11). I do not own the Plasmacam unit, but would like to make it as easy as I can for the person doing the cutting, he loaned me the CD so I can mess with it on my own time, thus saving me money. The trouble is PlasmaCam retarded, and you can't get support, even on their online forums without proof of ownership of the machine.


My trouble is that part of my drawing looks OK when imported, but other parts are scattered all over the place, seemingly 3d rotated, etc, but my DXF file is all on one layer, and in 2d only... What gives?

Your drawing is not in the XY plane. You also have some 3D polylines at a different level. I'd also explode the block around the parts.

Thanks, but I can't seem to find this lines that aren't on the same level. How do I change the plane? in the UCS somehow? should I explode the parts or just my sheet outline?

I got the drawing in the XY plane now.. Not seeing these polylines on a different level though, when I look from an end no matter how far I zoom in I'm only seeing 1 line.

Thanks for the help so far, More of my drawing is showing up right.. I'll try and get this figured out.

OK, I got it properly imported into PlasmaCam now.. Whew.

Is there any way to control which way it cuts lines? it seems that it makes some funny choices... I have an interrupted line, and it works through it the wrong way.. I don't think at this point it's a really big deal, but there are times when if I started from a certain point, I wouldn't need the lead-in.

Also, For 3/16th aluminum, Argon/Hydrogen is a bit hard to come by here for a cutting gas, would nitrogen be a significant improvement over compressed air? (I will have to weld a lot of these cuts)

Thanks again :)

Never used PlasmaCAM, but...
Most CAM programs importing .dxf files will cut them in the direction that they are drawn.
I'd go back into AutoCAD, and on a new layer, redraw the lines over the existing ones in the correct directions. Then delete the originals.

You can also set up different layers. You need to cut all the holes out first. Put them on a layer named holes. Then you will want to cut out inside profiles. Name them that. Then last cut the outer profiles. You can just get rid of the lines where your bends are unless you will actually cut those lines to help with bending, then weld closed.

I *really* don't feel like going over the whole thing again. I can select the cut order in Plasmacam, just not the direction.

I will be cutting the lines where the bends are and welding them up after, Especially for a first run, doing all the bends on a brake is going to be hard to get right... This is going to require a little bit of adjustment here and there before it fits I'm sure.

I haven't seen how Plasmacam interprets different layers.. from what I see it just puts everything onto one layer, so it's not going to make any difference how many layers are in the DXF.

It's always a bit of a learning curve working with new tech :)

On plasmacam's designedge, which is comes on the new machines, it is all pretty simple:

Attachment 267374

However on plasmacam's older 3.11 version, I could swear that under the offset convert menu in the settings that you could select the cut path direction....

Also, doesn't your pal have a machine? I have called into tech with no problems on my pal's machine system when I was helping him out. I do know that you definitely need a serial number though... unless the software you got was reproduced or copied....then they might not want to deal with that.

JAG

I just looked, I didn't see anything like what you describe in v3.11

I did find a halfassed workaround by converting connected lines to polylines in autocad, that way it at least would trace it out in one step... otherwise it would cut segments in different orders.

Oh, how much is the upgrade (if available) to design edge worth? I couldn't find any information about that on their site

My pal has a DHC plasmacam that he has used since 2001, and he recently upgraded his machine to the Designedge.
I'll have to ask him and see what the cost was. I know that for him it was worth every penny. There is no doubt that some of the features in Designedge definitely help save a ton of time (and money) on design work compared to 3.11.

JAG