When manufacturing our airplanes, the SAE AERO Design team needs to create and cut many profiles using the laser cutter. As an example, each rib for the horizontal and vertical stabilizer to the right, along with their accompanying control surfaces, is laser cut. 

Over the course of whole planes and whole seasons, the time preparing .DXF files to be cut adds up - as does the gains of an automated script to save time.

When exporting .DXFs from SolidWorks, they are all black, and contain a SolidWorks Educational watermark at the bottom. To prepare the file, the watermark must be removed and the lines turned red, to denote vector cut to the cutter software. Also, to track similar looking parts, their names are engraved onto them as well.

What

• Reduce repetitive tasks required for .DXF file preparation for laser cutting

How

• Python scripts using exdxf and shapely libraries

• Deletes SolidWorks Watermark

• Turns borders red - denotes vector cut

• Adds filename in blue in internal area with the most space (Pole of Inaccessibility) - denotes vector engrave, for part marking