Getting designs to cut

I followed along with the videos designing the bottle opener and I cut it out just to make sure that everything is setup the right way. Now I’m trying to figure out how to take neat designs and get them where they need to be so that I can generate paths and cut them but Idk if I need a different software to buy other people’s designs or what I need to do

There is a video on how to take an existing design (the architectural plate) from the DXF file, bring it into Fusion and create the file Mach3 uses to cut.

BTW, you can also take SVG files in the same way so you’re not just stuck with DXF files.

Take a look at plasmaspider.com and the designs section of their forum. For $20/yr you can download any of the DXF files posted there. Lots of good stuff.

There’s also Langmuir’s Fileshare (link above) where you can get designs someone else have uploaded for other people to use.

Then there’s the great Google - search on “DXF designs” or “SVG designs” (add Free to the search to find no charge designs).

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Thanks. I will give tht a try. The stuff I’ve been trying ended up being .jpg files and won’t let me do anything

Jpg files are “rasters” - just dots. You want “vectors” which are mathematical expressions of lines. DXF is a vector format. SVG is too although it can embed a raster or bitmapped image.

To cut things you need lines & not dots.

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Unless you want to cut a lot of dots! LOL

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Thanks for the info. One more question if I use plasma spider I will still have to go through fusion 360 to generate my tool path won’t I? Or will it already be in the file

They usually post the .dxf or .svg file for you so yes you will still need some other program for creating your toolpath with your settings in it. I use sheetcam but many do use fusion.

Good luck

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