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CATIA V5 - DXF to Gerber

I have several customers using CATIA V5, outputting a DXF file trying to convert to Gerber with not much luck. They are sending files back to V4 to convert to Gerber. Not sure what CATIA did on V5 but unable to convert directly from it. Will your software convert a V5 file to Gerber?
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We recently released a blog article which directly addresses this question:
http://www.numericalinnovations.com/blogs/news/how-to-convert-a-solidworks-dxf-to-gerber


Here's the tutorial movie showing me convert your DXF to Gerber:
http://screencast.com/t/oirqBHra0SMY


Note:  I wasn't sure what the horizontal lines were for, so I created a separate layer called "FOLD" and placed them there.  If they have a specific purpose, please let me know how you would like them to appear and I'll be happy to let you know what settings are required during the conversion.

Note:  ACE can also import STL and PDF files.  What's cool is many engineers will use ACE to convert these other formats to Gerber instead of having to rely of DXF.  Feel free to send me these formats and I'll be happy to help.


See below for a copy of my notes from the tutorial movie...

Best regards,
Simon


Convert CATIA5 DXF to Gerber

(1)  VIEW DXF IN CAD TOOL
Initially I used a free DXF CAD tool "DraftSight" to view what I had before I convert to Gerber.


(2) All objects were on Layer 0, which is not recommended for conversion so I created the following layers in my CAD tool:

0 - Default Layer with Title Block
PART  - The Part
FOLD  - Horizontal Lines (maybe fold lines?)

Note: I didn't know the purpose of the "Horizontal Lines" so I placed then on a layer called FOLD.

Note:  IF CATIA5 has the ability to export DXF with Layers I would recommend it to avoid this step.
http://www.dkszone.net/how-to-export-catdrawing-to-dxf-with

(3) Output DXF and Load into ACE 3000.


(4) Configure ACE 3000.  Notice I use the layer command "Join" (connects all open lines/arcs) and "De-Embed" (determine what is dark or clear per layer).


(5) View results and Export as Gerber...

That's it, the gerber files have been converted.
If you require the gerbers to be outputted differently ACE has many configuration options...
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