I posted this thread on the gCode forum and it was suggested that I try Lazy Cam. So here goes.

I'm not looking for anything exotic - I want to go from a jpeg line drawing to gCode. 2D is fine at this point for me.

By using Inkscpape and can convert a jpeg to a vector drawing. When I save the drawing I have many choices two of which are dxf or svg. Either of these are supposed to open in Lazy cam but they won't open for me. The .svg files appear to be opening but Lazy Cam reports that there are no entities and nothing show in the screen as a drawing nor in the project list either. If I try to open a .dxf file in TurboCAD or Lazy Cam I get the same result - nothing shows.

The files exist but only open in Inkscape and I can reopen them in Inkscpape and no other program that I can find. Inkscape uses a "trace" function and from the screen it looks fantastic but I can't seem to take it to the next step.

I have attached a simple example of a file produced in Inkscape and this won't open in Lazy CAM for me.

Anybody have a solution?

John

try converting the .dxf's to v12 format using A9 converter.

http://www.a9tech.com/

I was able to read the file in CATIA & SmartCam. You might need to look at any settings that have to do with DXF Rev level and entity handling on the export and import software, as suggested by Ger21.

The only thing I could get your file to open in is LazyCam (screenshot below), then sent straight to Mach3 (trial version).


.

It opens in AutoCAD, but gives some errors about undefined text entities due to regional settings in Windows.

Try closing the dxf file in your drawing file (Inkscape) first before trying to load into Lazycam. AutoCad 2000 does the same thing for me if I don't close it first.

Good luck,
Mike