Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community

Hey everybody. I downloaded the DXF drawings for the Rostock Max V2 so I could design up a couple of mods I have in mind based off the existing lasercut parts... (specifically, the filament spool holder on Sheet 3) I've been trying for the last 3 hours to get it to open in a program (any program) and all I get is errors and file not compatible messages.

The main Modeling software I'm using right now is PTC Creo Elements direct 6.0 (good software, great tutorials and help resources, and free!). After some googling it seems that PTC needs the DXF to be in an AutoCAD 10 or older version. I've tried about half a dozen converters now with no luck. All had errors and failed. I've tried converting versions and file types to no avail.

I've also tried FreeCad. Finally got it to import the DXF (after having to manually load plugins), but then got a traceback error before it would show me anything.

Am I missing something here? It shouldn't be this hard to get, what should be a pretty universal 2d drawing format, to open and work. I'm at a loss as to where to go from here. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You can try "Draftsight" It's a free 2d cad frome Dessault Systems (Solidworks, Catia) And it works for me. You do have to register it, and apparently it will do 3d if you pay for it. but for dxf, it works.

If you have trouble with Draftsight, I use AutoCAD and can save the drawing as a v10 file, but I'm not sure if it will DXF out as v10. I'm willing to try.

If PTC Creo Elements can open the AutoCAD dwg file, I can definitely help.

Well I've tried Draftsight and Adobe Illustrator with no go.

Draftsight gives an "Error Invalid Group Code" and then prompts for you to recover the file. Clicking yes results in another error and nothing displayed.

Illustrator will open the file, but nothing is displayed or selectable. I just can't figure out why nothing will work on these. I've tried every CAD file SeeMe CNC has on their Github and all react the same way. I get that a lot of people use AutoCAD and they probably open fine there, but why are they not offered up on github in a format that everyone can use? Maybe it's just me, but I've tried 7-8 different programs now with no luck.

Redlight, Thanks for the offer! PTC Creo does support dwg files.

I just installed a free DWG viewer from AutoCAD. I'm going to see if that will open up the DXF and allow me to resave as DWG. I need to reboot before giving it a try. If that doesn't work, I'd really appreciate the help!

Just let me know how you make out. If you are unable to do what you need, attach the files that you want converted. I'll save them as AutoCAD 2010 dwg files and attach them to a post of my own.

It's funny that I have the opposite problem. I will sometimes modify an existing model that is supplied as an stl or some other format. I always have to re-draw the part completely in CAD because the converters don't create true solids. I wish people would post DXF files

Uggghh...

So True View won't even open on my computer (after some searching apparently Nvidia drivers can cause a conflict... and Why shouldn't they? Only about 50%+ of the PC world is run with Nvidia graphics cards.) So I installed Design Review... It won't open DXF files unless True View is installed. IT IS INSTALLED!!! *loud sound of head repeatedly banging against wall*

So I tried AutoCAD 360 (their free cloud based CAD program) It won't even load them. Hangs at about 60% everytime.


I don't think it's the DXF, necessarrily, that's the problem. I think it's more to do with HOW the DXF file was saved in the first place. I just downloaded a couple of random laser cut DXF files off from thingaverse and they loaded up into PTC Creo with zero issues. So the problem has to be on SeeMe CNC's side of the equation during the file creation or upload process.

Here's a link to the Github of the files I'm trying to open. Give em a try and tell me I'm not crazy, because I'm totally starting to feel like I'm going crazy.

Here are the dxf files, converted to v2010 dwg files... good luck

And those worked perfect! Thank you so much, redlight!!!

I still don't get why the DXF's wouldn't work for me, when DXF's from other sources have worked completely fine. Odd... Oh well.

My pleasure. I'm glad that worked for you.