DXF2MGi

DXF Converter to MANUAL GUIDE i arbitrary figures

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Created on April 27, 2015 by Benassi, Massimo (FANUC Luxembourg)
1 Introduction
Creating and editing MANUAL GUIDE i arbitrary figures with many elements and/or with many unknowns
can be time consuming.
For this purpose DXF2MGi is now available to easily export DXF drawings into MANUAL GUIDE i arbitrary
figures.

2 Software Requirements
QCAD version 3.9.1, QCAD is free (open source) CAD application available from www.qcad.org.
QCAD scripts available from FANUC Europe Corporation SA intranet:
DXF2MGi_Milling.zip
DXF2MGi_Turning.zip
Microsoft Windows 7, 8, 8.1.
QCAD runs also on MAC OS X and Linux. However the scripts have not been tested on those platforms.

2.1 DXF file requirements

The free version of QCAD supports DXF files compatible with AUTOCAD 2000/LT2000 (R15).
MANUAL GUIDE i figures are composed of Lines and Arcs therefore the DXF drawing to export should be
composed of Lines and Arcs only.
If the DXF drawing contains Ellipses, Circles, Splines, Polylines, Points and Text then are they ignored.

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Created at April 27, 2015 by Benassi, Massimo (FANUC Luxembourg)
3 Installation
First Install QCAD on the PC. In the following it is assumed QCAD was installed in C:\Program Files\QCAD.
Extract the content of DXF2MGi_Milling.zip and DXF2MGi_Turning.zip into the folder:
C:\Program Files\QCAD\scripts\Select

In folder C:\Program Files\QCAD\scripts\Select\DXF2MGi_Milling you should see the files as in the following
picture.

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Created at April 27, 2015 by Benassi, Massimo (FANUC Luxembourg)
In folder C:\Program Files\QCAD\scripts\Select\DXF2MGi_Turning you should see the files as in the
following picture.

To confirm QCAD recognized the scripts, form the Help menu, open the About QCAD window and look for
DXF2MGi_Milling and DXF2MGi_Turning in the tab Scripts.

Click View on the main toolbar, then click on Toolbar and thick Select to display the DXF2MGi buttons

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Created at April 27, 2015 by Benassi, Massimo (FANUC Luxembourg)
4 Interface
While QCAD is running you will see the two buttons highlighted below:

Click the button depending from the type of MANUAL GUIDE i arbitrary figure to create, milling or turning.

4.1 Turning Toolbar

When the button for turning figure is clicked then the following toolbar appears.

Specify the subprogram number. Be aware only numbers are accepted.

The subprograms are saved into the PC with format Onumber, in the same
folder where the DXF file is located.

Specify the Start Point X of the contour in the Workpiece Coordinate System.

Specify the Start Point Z of the contour in the Workpiece Coordinate System.

This is the tolerance used to decide whether the extremities of two lines are
actually touching in the DXF drawing.
Normally is not necessary to change this value.

When creating MANUAL GUIDE i arbitrary figures is necessary to define the Start Point.

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Created at April 27, 2015 by Benassi, Massimo (FANUC Luxembourg)
4.2 Milling Toolbar
When the button for milling figure is clicked then the following toolbar appears:

Select the type of figure to create depending from the type of MANUAL GUIDE
i milling cycle to execute.

Select the machining plane where to execute the MANUAL GUIDE i milling
cycle.
This menu is enabled only after a Figure Type has been selected.

This menu is enabled only when Figure Type is Open (contour is not closed).

Select the rotary axis name to execute the MANUAL GUIDE i milling cycle with
Polar or Cylindrical Interpolation function.
This menu is enabled only the Machining Plane selection is XC: Polar or ZC:
Cylindrical.

Specify the subprogram number. Be aware only numbers are accepted.

The subprograms are saved into the PC with format Onumber, in the same
folder where the DXF file is located.
Specify the Start Point position of the contour in the Workpiece Coordinate
System.

Specify the Base Position of the contour.

Specify the Height/Depth of the contour.

This field is available in case Figure Type selection is not Face (facing).
Specify the Groove Width.
This filed is available in case Figure Type selection is Groove (grooviing).
This is the tolerance used to decide whether the extremities of two lines are
actually touching in the DXF drawing.
Normally is not necessary to change this value.

When creating MANUAL GUIDE i arbitrary figures is necessary to define the Start Point as well as other
data:

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Created at April 27, 2015 by Benassi, Massimo (FANUC Luxembourg)
5 Exporting drawings into MANUAL GUIDE i arbitrary
figures
To export a DXF drawing into MANUAL GUIDE i arbitrary figure apply following steps.
1. Open the DXF file with QCAD.
2. Clean up the drawing, to be exported, from non-relevant intersecting objects.
3. If required, scale the drawing 1:1 to the real dimension of the workpiece.
4. Select the contour to be exported and snap one extremity of a line or arc, to the origin (X0, Y0) of the
drawing area. The origin (X0, Y0) in the drawing area is identified by the red cross, as in following
picture.

Example of drawings snapped correctly to the origin (X0, Y0) of the drawing area.

If the Start Point does not correspond to any extremity of the current drawing then divide the
corresponding Line or Arc in order to have one extremity at the Start Point.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The extremity that is at the origin of the (X0, Y0) of the drawing area
corresponds to the Start Point in the MANUAL GUIDE i window START POINT. The coordinates of
the start point, in the Workpiece Coordinate Systems are specified inside the toolbar (sections 4.1
and 4.2).

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Created at April 27, 2015 by Benassi, Massimo (FANUC Luxembourg)
 5. Click the button for Milling or Turning
6. Fill in the data in the Toolbar (Figure Type, Subprogram number, Start Point, etc..).
7. With the mouse left button click anywhere on the contour to be exported.
If the steps are successful then the following message appears:

The subprogram is created in the same folder where the DXF file is located.
The comment of the subprogram is the name of the DXF file without extension.

6 Contingent editing in MANUAL GUIDE i

The editing of the created subprogram might be completed directly in MANAUL GUIDE i in order to define
the geometry of the blank or to define the FACE POSITION.

6.1 Long and Short Arcs

By default the script convert all the arcs with an opening angle shorter than 180, and MANUAL GUIDE i
does not use the information of the center point to determine whether the arc is long or short.
If in the drawing there are arcs with an opening angle larger than 180 then there are two alternative
methods to get long arcs.
1. In the DXF drawing divide the arc in two parts, and each part smaller than 180 or;
2. In MANUAL GUIDE i open the figure and change the ARC attribute ROUTE TYPE into LONG

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Created at April 27, 2015 by Benassi, Massimo (FANUC Luxembourg)
8 Pop-up Messages
Message Explanation/Troubleshooting
No profile selected, please move the mouse over a You clicked somewhere in the drawing area but not
profile and click mouse left button. on the profile.
It is required to click on an element of profile you
would like to export.
No edge of the drawing is at position (X0, Y0), snap One extremity of any drawing element in the profile
the drawing at coordinates (0, 0). should be at (X0, Y0).

File Oxxxx already exist, change file name, please!
Figure selected and saved in subprogram Oxxxx.
cannot open file...
It is not possible to overwrite files.
Change file name or rename the file already existing.
The DXF drawing has been successfully converted
into MANUAL GUIDE i figure.
For some reason the Operating System of the PC is
not allowing opening the file.

9 CNC Parameters
Set parameter 27104#6 to 1: Values of the arguments of the arbitrary figures are output with 9 digits.

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Created at April 27, 2015 by Benassi, Massimo (FANUC Luxembourg)