Fusion360: DXF export with kerf compensation for laser cutting

[@JeremyFry]

Man I've been doing this manually in Illustrator for longer than I'd like to admin. You just saved me hundreds of hours!

[@h4z4rd42]

Nice one, thank you. 6 years later, Fusion has changed so much, I wonder if this would still work...

[@tortillachief7770]

Brand new to laser cutting and every single one of your videos has been easy to follow and tremendously helpful. You're the real mvp.

[@BRadFPV]

Follow up... Opening the DXF in AI was the secret to exposing layers. Your videos were key to the success of my project!!! Thank you :)

[@HobbyistMaker]

I've got quite a few more videos in the works, when I can get the time to edit them. Looking forward to the feedback on those.

[@madnat_]

Hi there - is there a newer version of this super helpful tutorial. Seems F360 CAM process has undergone a significant overhaul since 2018? Thank you

[@MrEddyJacob]

Thanks a lot for your very usefull videos. I made my first box (a few times) and have it ready for my laser cutter (after resolving an error). Still need to learn certain functionalities of Fusion 360, but you certainly get me going on the right path. Keep on making these super videos ! KR, Eddy.

[@kurtb3367]

If anyone is looking for the CAM menu option, it is now called MANUFACTURE. Also, the CUTTING profile is under the FABRICATION tab.

[@rdkoehn2330]

THANK YOU SO MUCH finally someone that helped me out lol sorry bout that caps😁

[@danbir]

Thanks you very much for your great work on these Finger Joint Boxes! I was able to integrate it into my own (first) Fusion project without any problem! Unfortunately I did also get strange paths on the .dxf especially on corners when importing into RDWorks (for Chinese Laser Cutters). I don't have AI and I haven't tried to clean it up in Inkscape but when I set "Output Polylines" to "Yes" in the .dxf postprocessor, then I get a much cleaner result! Some of the corners are still slightly rounded instead of 90° but there are no more strange half-moon artefacts on the corners. I did not cut it on the laser yet, but I think it should work fine. Thanks again!

[@tommeyers7850]

Thank you. Exactly what I needed today.

[@HobbyistMaker]

I'm glad this was helpful.

[@PatternMusic]

Great tutorial on Fusion's CAM module! But I find Fusion's CAM module is unnecessarily complicated for generating laser cutter output. There are a couple easier solutions. 1) create a sketch from the main face of each part you want to cut. Then do a Save as DXF for each sketch. Or 2) use the free DXF for Laser (DXF4Laser) add-in by Ross Korsky available from the Autodesk App Store. DXF4Laser outputs a DXF from a selected face in one operation eliminating the need to create a sketch file. DXF4Laser will also do kerf compensation if you find you need it. (I generally do not.)

[@HobbyistMaker]

The sketch method works well, as does DXF4Laser. But, the sketch method will become more difficult in a more complex model; especially when you are joining and combining objects, and will completely break under certain circumstances with parametric models. I haven't used DXF4Laser recently, but I find the CAM module to be a more robust alternative for saving and reusing settings. But, yes, it is more complex.

[@guritche]

I don't have libraries. Only projects and samples. Has this changed in newer versions?

[@joshrosenstock2798]

This was super helpful, thank you. One question about an option in newer versions of Fusion360. In the 2D Profile Cut/Passes/Outer Corner Mode. I'm assuming for a laser this would be Keep Sharp? Thanks

[@ChiefBridgeFuser]

Your videos on the finger joints were massively helpful to me in understanding how to use Fusion 360. This one on the CAM setup is how I got a grasp on how to do anything with CAM. I found the Autodesk DXF post frustrating for the laser cutter I have access to: separating operations into layers leads to lots of manual work to finish the setup. Also, the laser cutter in question uses color on the layers to categorize operations (speed, power, order). I modified the Autodesk dxf.cps to generate a better DXF for this one (LaserCut 5.3 on a Chinese laser). Would you be interested in trying it out?

[@HobbyistMaker]

Chief, I'm not sure I understand your statement/question. I'm glad the finger joint videos were helpful. The CAM video is focused on addressing my need to easily export the DXFs for cutting on my Glowforge laser, which uses colors for different purposes than other lasers. I separate each operation into a layer so that I can use one export operation from Fusion 360 and get everything over to Illustrator for final tweaks, and operation ordering. I'd be interested in seeing the tweaks you made to the default DXF post processor. I was considering some changes to it to see if I could reduce the amount of manual post-processing needed in Illustrator, but have had no time to look at it.

[@ChiefBridgeFuser]

Here's a link to where you can find the modified post processor: github.com/alexander-at/Fusion360Helpers/tree/master/Fusion360_to_ChineseLaserDXF The defaults are now like you set a couple of them. You'll need to adjust the X and Y step size to something larger than your largest part so that they don't overlap; that part needs some work in the post to make it less work for the humans.

[@alexiageorge2304]

This is awesome! Thank you :-)

[@foodini]

When I do the dxf export, making sure that "Put operations in separate layers" is checked, I get a .dxf with only one layer in it - at least, only one layer appears when I load it into RDCAM.

[@HobbyistMaker]

I haven't used RDCAM, so I'm not sure if I can provide any guidance that would help. Do you have any other software (e.g. Illustrator, Inkscape) that you could check the files with?

[@PRO3DESIGN]

Nice one!

[@cheesewhiz32]

another great video!

[@L18mvw]

My dxf has linking (yellow and green) lines. How did you avoid this? I think they are linking internal cuts? I have to ungroup the dxf and go around deleting all of them 🙄

[@HobbyistMaker]

If I recall correctly, the extra lines are caused by having lead-in enabled on the tool path.

[@BRadFPV]

Getting very weird DXF paths exported. Corners of fingers have strange half moon paths. Lines are not horizontal or vertical. Got hours messing with this and unable to eliminate these artifacts.

[@HobbyistMaker]

This sounds like the tool setup is too large. Are you using the 2D Cutting operation, and what is the Kerf value that you are using? If the Kerf is too large, you will see rounded corners instead of sharp corners.

[@BRadFPV]

0.08mm kerf, found main problem... don't group paths in AI. Also, needed to join paths. BUT... still can't open DXF with layers from CAM post. Matching your settings. Using AI CS5. Maybe it is too old?

[@HobbyistMaker]

I have CS5 on another machine. I can try it tomorrow.

[@BRadFPV]

It would be nice to know if CS5 is causing issues.

[@HobbyistMaker]

Unfortunately, it looks like CS5 isn't working on my other laptop, but I found information that says the DXF import should work. Make sure that you are opening the DXF directly, or dragging it to AI. Don't use the File->Place function. forums.adobe.com/thread/998776#

[@anacristinabarrinha1152]

It's possible to render the lines of a sketch in fusion, like a laser engrave a mdf board? Example: images.tcdn.com.br/img/img_prod/426624/149_2_20180125180558.jpg