FreeCAD export to Estlcam

Mostly Printed CNC - MPCNC Troubleshooting
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I have created a drawing in FreeCAD and can not figure out how to export it so that it can be imported into Estlcam and then generate the gcode for my MPCNC?

Can anyone with any ideas or experience give me a hint as to, in what format, export in a format that Estlcam can import? Or, do I need to mode to a different set of software tools? Goal is I am trying to engrave text in wood.

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Export as dxf.

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I receive the error message "Export of this object type is not supported by TechDraw module.

Have tried .dxf and .svg. Same error

Guess I will try from the FreeCAD side to see if I can figure out what I am/am not doing correctly to get this to export.

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I don’t use FreeCad but I did find this

Installing

Note: for licensing reasons, the DXF import/export libraries are not part of the FreeCAD source code anymore. For that reason, they must be installed by you, the user, after you install FreeCAD. There is a way to allow FreeCAD to do that automatically, or you can do it manually.

Automatically

Starting from version 0.15, you only need to mark the Edit → Preferences → Import/Export → DXF/DWG → "Allow FreeCAD to automatically download the DXF libraries" option to have FreeCAD take automatically care of downloading and installing these libraries. For older versions, you will need to do it manually.

Manually

Libraries must be downloaded from https://github.com/yorikvanhavre/Draft-dxf-importer There is a very complete step-by-step tutorial that will explain you the necessary steps.

https://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/Draft_DXF

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Bill,

'Automatically did it. Thanks

Now on to the next brick wall to hit my head against. But getting closer to gcode.

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I actually love freecad but upgrading versions can be an utter pain… when you install a new version you really need to keep the old one :frowning:

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Do you have 2 versions on the same computer? Did you have to jump through any hoops to get the second one installed without messing up the first?

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For anyone who stumbles on this thread with the same problem, here’s a way to export a DXF from FreeCAD:

  1. Create a sketch using the Sketcher/PartDesign workbench. [View --> Workbench --> PartDesign or Sketcher]

  2. Close your sketch when finished [press Esc] and change to the TechDraw workbench. [View --> Workbench --> TechDraw]

  3. Insert a default page. [TechDraw --> Insert default page]

  4. While still in the TechDraw workbench, click the desired sketch in the Tree View (this contains the list of objects on the left hand side of the program by default), then click [TechDraw --> Insert View].

  5. Click the new page in the Tree View. This will open a new window with a draft page containing your sketch.

  6. Right click the section of the draft page that contains your sketch and export as a DXF. [Right click --> Export DXF]

  7. That’s it!

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Also, for those running FreeCAD on Linux, there are now AppImage binaries available on the FreeCADweb.org website. This makes it easy to have multiple versions available.

I have the stable release installed through the default package management system, but have been downloading recent development “snapshot” AppImages to try out new functionality.

I find the “PATH” workbench meets most of my CAM requirements. It does not do V-Carving yet, but that is supposed to be coming soon…

-Pete

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In case anyone else stumbles on this forum post, it is now January 2024 and I have just installed FreeCAD version 0.20 and it allows direct export to .dxf from file ->- export-> .dxf.

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I’m going to have to check that out now. Just fumbling around freecad, but need to dig into it further. Exporting straight to dxf is a plus!