2D engineering drawings & DXF file output/input

mike_nelson

One thing that I need before I can really use this tool is to be able to produce professional 2D drawings.  Most of the subcontractors require me to send PDF version of 2D drawings for their use on the shop floor.  I also need to be able to produce accurate 2D DXF profiles that are used in Laser, Plasma and Water Jet cutting of a lot of the parts that I am having made. I have looked in vain for this functionality.  Is it there now? coming soon? or further in the future.
If some samples of what I am currently producing would help I can provide - I have so far produced just over 1000 drawings of the Baldwin Locomotive we are building and a good number of the parts have been made directly from blanks cut using 2D DXF files.

A lot of the initial design is provided to me in 2D form (autocad lite) by a designer who has never used 3D and doesn't want to learn - at least I did manage to drag him away from his drawing board and pencil.

Mike

brucebartlett

Mike, put some samples up

jakeramsley

pipemakermike said:

I have looked in vain for this functionality.  Is it there now? coming soon? or further in the future.

dwg and dxf outputs are not currently supported but we are looking into it.

mike_nelson

http://www.machineconcepts.co.uk/baldwin242/A3-LYN-030.PDF
picture below all parts cut using water jet guided by DXF files

brucebartlett

I am risking sounding like a broken record, but its a show stopper for me without .dxf export capability. Ideally straight from the part studio to increase efficiency, the Solidwork's dxf export is awesome . I would do these 100 time more than any 3d export.

I will also down the track what Sheet metal. 

mike_nelson

this PDF file of the boiler certification drawing would have been easier to produce on the drawing board as the certifying authority required all the information to be presented on one drawing. I had to model a number of sub-models to present the details in a suitable form.

mike_nelson

Here is one of the drawings for the water tank pictured above. A you can see it is a 2 sheet drawing with the second sheet having the flat pattern that was used to create the DXF file from which the blank was cut ready for bending. Are you planning a sheet metal module (I can help making it better than SW) Likewise welding functionality that is quite poor in SW

traveler_hauptman

@pipemakermike Thanks for sharing. I'm pretty sure that just looking at the Boiler drawing made my testosterone level bump up a bit.

brucebartlett

@pipemakermike sure it won't be long before your onshaping these. 

Sheetmetal is also one of my core requirements but think it will be sometime before we see it in onshape (hope i am wrong). I have played with using the a second flat part in the part studio done by hand calc's, but have all most forgot how to do these, I have become so reliant on Solidworks. I never seen it but heard spaceclaim has good sheet metal, we've got tru-top's down in our laser office which supposedly has Spacecliam sheet metal incorporated might have to go down later and have a play. 

I do similar parts to you from a "modelling perspective" (I would not know the first thing about a boiler) and am looking forward to more functionality eg. mirroring and patterning in an assembly, configurations in an assembly and ability to have multiple instances of a the same parts in a part studio to avoid an assembly altogether and weldment functionality. However as I work on Solidworks I keep coming across problem's that Onshape will solve. Just have to be patient.

caradon

@Bruce
Yes, SpaceClaim's sheet metal is brilliant. Awesome how it can convert imported models into sheet metal features.

Dries

andy

+ 1 for dwg import. I just tried to create a model and didn't realise this wasn't an option. I needed to import a logo created in illustrator and emboss it in 3D, something I need to do quite regularly. 

mcconnell113

+1 for 2d drawings. and +1 importing from Illustrator. Logos/text need imported. I also would like to see export options from the list of projects.

kirk_2

I've been using SW for about 6 months and have gotten reasonably proficient for the parts I make.  So OnShape is pretty intuitive with things I like.  But I do almost all 2.5D machining and need both import of DXF into sketches and output of DXF for use in CAM.

DWG is fine if that's better or easier to handle than DXF.

billy2

Kirk-

DWG & DXF are the same thing, DWG is the binary equivalent (compressed) of DXF. If one doesn't work, the other typically doesn't work. I really don't like either, but when I have to, I'll use DWG because it's a smaller file size.

Welcome onboard, what are you machining? Can you show an image?

kirk_2

Here's my first and only project in SW.  It's a stationary steam engine model that I built from castings and printed plans.  My use of this type of software in the future would be similar.  Rather than as a design tool, modeling from published 2D plans allows verifying that the engine works and that the plan dimensions are correct.  Most such plans have drawing errors, and finding them during machining makes for rework and weasted material.  Note that this is hobbyist  work, not professional.

berne

Constantly making 2d SW drawings for ISO compliance on the shop floor. This is a must, as well as the ability to export those drawings as dxf files for cam work

berne

I model things to make things

David_151

In another topic, the OnShape people say they intend to respond to feedback in deciding what to work on.  So, this is a "me too."

I'd like to model something in 3D to see if it will work, but then I want to make it in a shop.  How do I do that without being able to print out dimensioned drawings?  At this point, I've decided to learn how to model in OnShape on the hopes that this feature will exist soon.  There is a video out there showing this, labelled "coming soon."  I'm hoping it's true.  The video looks pretty awesome actually.

David...

brucebartlett

@fixerdave I waiting, patiently waiting. Hopefully any time soon, next update? maybe that's pushing.  

berne

@fixerdave - Watched that same video and got excited when I saw "coming soon" then I read a few more comments and saw that people were hopeful it would be a christmas gift... wow, I am about a week old with onshape and way behind the discussion curve.... my idea of coming soon is that a request is made over morning coffee and there by quitting time. My world moves much faster... coming soon is days not months. Sorry... not meaning to sound like a whiner. Im very happy with everything I am seeing in Onshape.

andrew_troup

On another forum discussion, someone from inside the OnS "tent" indicated that drawing capability would hopefully be launched, albeit in very basic form, this (presumably Massachusetts) summer.

jason_cerundolo

+1 for DXF import. I have a 3D model and I need to import a 2D logo and emboss it.