Exporting .dxf files for CNC cutting?

[BTaylor_MEI]

I'm wondering if there's a better workflow available to export the profile of a flat part as a .dxf file for use with a water jet cutter/laser cutter/plasma cutter table.

My current workflow is as follows:

1) Model part and define a "Front" view normal to the plate that will be cut

2) create new drawing in Creo

3) select my drawing template which gives me the "Front" view I've established in the model at 1.000 scale

4) File>Save As>Export

5) Select .dxf and export

6) open the new .dxf in my CAM software and remove the sheet outline

I could cut down on my mouse clicks by using mapkeys, but before I do that I'm wondering if there's an elegant way to generate a clean .dxf. When I trialed OnShape you could just right click a flat surface and export it as a .dxf straight from the assembly which was very convenient.

[tbraxton · Accepted solution]

AFAIK Creo Parametric can only export dxf format from drawing mode. You can automate your steps above and use a drawing template without a format to eliminate the requirement to remove the sheet outline.

If you create a mapkey sequence to create a drawing with the desired view and export a dxf, you can then assign that to an icon in the UI and create a dxf from a model with a mouse click.

The only other option is to use one of the programming APIs to implement the same sequence as the mapkey, so I would just use that method.