SketchUp to G-Code

[George Levines]

Hi all,

Handy enough with SketchUp and other CAD software but unfamiliar with the CNC space. Looking for something to streamline the process. What's the workflow at OpenDesk? I saw a plugin for SketchUp that looked promising called Phlatscript but all the posts that mention it are old and I can't seem to locate any kind of download. Most other tutorials have these 20 step processes that involve at least three programs. Seems silly.

Your thoughts?

[Scott Briggs]

Hi George,

Did you every find what you were looking for? I've been watching opendesk and wikihouse for a while now and I really want to get involved and start making things so I'm curious how you fared.

Cheers,

Scott

[Justin Park]

George,

I model designs in SketchUp and then import the 3D model into VCarve Pro. VCarve Pro "flattens" the design and arranges it so that it can be cut out of plywood. VCarve Pro is also used to assign toolpaths so that a CNC router can cut the design out.

This is a recent discovery for me. I found out about it when I was looking at the Maker Bench Milling instructions. To find a more step by step version of the SketchUp to VCarve Pro process, go to: http://www.sketchthis.net/makerbench and click on the black "Miling Files" button. It will take you to a dropbox folder. From there, click on the "Master Milling Files and Instructions" folder. There is a PDF file in that folder with specific instructions on how to import a SketchUp model into VCarve.

Hope this helps.

[Ian Bennink]

Hi George,

What Justin outlines should be totaly possible, but to answer your question on what tools we use:
At Opendesk we're using Rhino and Sketchup to do design in 3D, and then converting 3D to 2D sheets in Rhino and AutoCAD as our base tools, to generate master dxf files (a format we found is most makers can work with) with different cuttng paths each on corresponding layers for easy importing by the CAM software; we used Microstation and some other CAD programs but sometimes found some glitches when exporting to dxf.

A free tool I've been using (we have a limited number of AutoCAD licenses as they're pretty expensive!) is Draftsight, made by Dassault, the company behind Solidworks. It's free as long as you register (and you can unuibscribe from their marketing mails).

DXF files can then be uploaded by any CAM software (including RhinoCAM which is quite affordable).

Best
Ian

[Frank D]

Hi all,

Justin, would appreciate knowing how you get Vcarve pro to layout.  As I just get a 3d model when I try the same.  Only learnt about this a few weeks ago but yet to get it to work.

George,

Laying out 2d in sketchup, exporting dxf and CAM with Vcarve has been my process this last couple of years.

I also tried Fusion360 to do all in one program and for free.  Made a desk this way last week, works fine but Opendesk360 is far from stable and generally cumbersome.  The CAM cutting needs tweaking a lot to avoid taking all day to cut a sheet.  On the plus side you can use parametrics to make everything scale to your material properly.

Best of luck!