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Using Inkscape for CNC Designs and DXFs

September 04, 08 by Andy

Update: see this later post before following the instructions below.

I don’t care for most of the DXF editors available. They seem a bit clunky and not too friendly. But I do like Inkscape. Unfortunately it doesn’t export DXF files.

Here is a way of getting Inkscape 0.46 to export DXF files which can then be processed in a CAM program to generate g-code for a CNC machine.

Firstly install Inkscape 0.46. It must be this version.

Next go to this post on BobandEileen.com, right click on the link to “dxf_templates.py” and save it in C:\Program Files\Inkscape\share\extensions.

Next step is to go to another post on BobandEileen.com, right click on the two .py files (”simpletransform.py” and “better_dxf_outlines.py”) and save in the same place. Then do the same for “better_dxf_outlines.inx”.

Restart Inkscape.

Create a drawing and then move it to the bottom left corner of the page. This corner ends up being the origin. If you want your drawing centered on the origin then center it on the corner of the page.

Go to File -> Save As…

From the list of file types in the save dialog window choose “Better DXF Output (*.dxf)” and save the file.

Now open the DXF file in your favourite CAM program, such as CamBam.

Note that you may need to scale the drawing in your CAM program. Even though I had my drawings correctly sized in Inkscape, they seemed to be quite a bit bigger. If anyone knows how to solve that please post a comment.

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8 responses for this post

  1. Bob Says: 05.09.08 at 7:12 am

    Glad you found the extension useful. One additional note worth mentioning: be sure to convert all objects to paths before writing the DXF file; non-path objects are silently skipped and won’t appear in the DXF file. As for the scaling factor: I use SheetCam to prepare my gcode, and when I open DXF files from Inkscape I have to specify the file uses metric units. I’ve never used CamBam before, but maybe it has a similar option?

  2. Andy Says: 05.09.08 at 8:24 am

    Bob - thanks for the hints. I’ve used the extension several times now and it works great!

  3. Fowkc Says: 31.10.08 at 9:55 am

    Hi,

    Unfortunately, when I try and save the .py files I get a HTTP500 internal server error. Have they been moved somewhere else?

    I’d really like to try this extension out!

    Cheers,

    James

  4. Andy Says: 31.10.08 at 9:57 am

    See: http://www.britishideas.com/2008/09/15/more-on-inkscape-and-dxf-export/

    Andy

  5. Fowkc Says: 31.10.08 at 10:17 am

    Yeah, that’s where I’m trying to get them from (http://www.bobcookdev.com/inkscape/inkscape-dxf.html). Do you get the same error?

  6. Andy Says: 31.10.08 at 10:31 am

    Try sending email to bob at bobcookdev dot com.

    Andy

  7. Roy Says: 31.10.08 at 9:43 pm

    Hello Andy,

    Would you please send me a file of better_dxf_outlines.py ? Because
    I could not download this file from the web.

    Thank you very much.

    Roy

  8. Fowkc Says: 03.11.08 at 3:53 am

    Bob has put all four files into a .ZIP. Works like a charm!

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