2D import in DesignSpark Mechanical

[Phil O]

Hi All,

A bit off track, but having got my head around Designspark, hopefully enough to attempt to produce something useful, I have produced a 2D cad drawing in Qcad, which produces a dxf file, the problem is that Designspark doesn't accept it. Any ideas on way forward?

Many thanks.

Martin, sorry for the thread drift.

 

[Martin Wynne]

Hi All,

A bit off track, but having got my head around Designspark, hopefully enough to attempt to produce something useful, I have produced a 2D cad drawing in Qcad, which produces a dxf file, the problem is that Designspark doesn't accept it. Any ideas on way forward?

Many thanks.

Martin, sorry for the thread drift.

@Phil O

Hi Phil,

The free Explorer version of DesignSpark Mechanical is great if starting an STL design from scratch.

Unfortunately if you want to import existing designs from elsewhere, including a 2D DXF, you need to upgrade to the subscription Creator version. That's £10 per month, but you can pause the subscription if you are not using it, or cancel it at any time.

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You may find other CAD programs which are free and will import 2D DXF files. This video is a round-up of some free CADs.

p.s. slow down the playback speed if your brain is as old as mine:

cheers,

Martin.

 

[Phil O]

Thanks Martin,

I was following James advice and doing a 2d CAD drawing before starting in 3d. I will use the info I gained doing the 2d and see if I do it again in 3d.

Thanks for your time.

 

[KHC1]

Another option can you save the 2D as a .jpeg. If you can that can be imported into Designspark. I have a couple of times if you know one dimension I would then draw a line to scale the same as the known dimension then you can enlarge or shrink the .jpeg to fit. I did this using some drawings I had of the station buildings for Rowfant. Once to scale I copied over the drawing to get the outline.

Keith