Hey Everybody,
I´m new in this Forum and my english is not the best sorry for that.
Working with BoardCAD is my first time and I´m planning to build a Hollow wood fish Surfboard.
We have a new Laser Cutter a our university and this mashine with the controlling program needs dxf files.
My question: Does anybody know how to save Hollow wood templates in DXF?
BoardCAD can only directly print hollow wood files
Hello Iceman,
Both BoardCAD hollow board prints and HBTM prints are relatively ‘dirty’ when converted to DXF and will make poor files for a laser unless they are fixed.
You could try printing them directly to PDF with the correct driver, use Inkscape to convert PDF to DXF, and use Draftsight to fix all the issues before going to laser.
If you do not clean up the CAD data, everything will be cut twice and not be the right size. It may be possible to fix the PDF to be linewidth=0 before making DXF to solve this problem.
Personally, I would use the real DXF outputs from BoardCAD, run it into Draftsight, and make edits there before cutting. That takes time too and sometimes I have to retrace a polyline to get it to offset correctly.
Hey Randy,
Thank you very much for this information. I will try your first plan and hope its working.
But how do you save hollow wood templates in DXF files from BoardCAD? I only see the option for printing and save it as an pdf.
Hi Iceman,
The hollow board outputs are for prints only, they are not available from BoardCAD as DXF.
The choices that I know are (1) output hollow board files to PDF then convert to DXF and repair for laser or (2) output DXF that is for a normal outline, stringer, and sections and then do your own CAD work to make them suitable for hollow board pieces (minus the skins and rails and holes to make lighter) and the laser.
If anyone has a better way, I would like to hear it too.
Hey,
i think i get it. Build your Board with BoardCAD. Save it normally. Use the file for the free tool HBTM to make your template. Convert the broken pdf with Inkscape to DXF and then i Use Rhino for clean all the mistakes. Haha long way but thanks very much for your help. I would say next time i use directly Rhino for shaping and builing the Hollow Wood template.
Thanks Thanks
