Paper drawings to DWG possible??

Hi, I have been asked to help a friend out with a project he inherited.

We have old paper drawings of a 5"G Netta by LBSC which I have scanned and have in .pdf and .jpg formats. Can anyone offer any advice on the best way to convert these if possible to .dwg for use with a CNC machine?

Thanks

Re-draw using a cad program such as draftsight (which is free). When you say for use on cnc, what cnc machine? Something like an XYZ machine would use DXF format and makes things easier, or use a full CAM package from the dwg or dxf file to generate the nc file for the cnc machine to use.

Andy.

Adam,

You need a "Raster to Vector" software. Scan2cad has been around some time and there is a free trial download but it is restricted in size until you buy the full version..

Google "scan drawings to dxf" to find several agencies who offer a converting service. Costs not known.

Bob D

Plenty of programs that convert raster to vector, only problem is if these are wanted accurate then you are going to have to redraw.

They are OK for arty farty stuff like logo's but if you are working to tolerances of less than a post code then sorry but you have to put the time in and redraw.

John S.

Redrawing in CAD will also help you to spot any errors in the original drawings.

+1 for Draftsight.

Russell.

I believe that the Tornado project to build a new full-size A1 locomotive converted all the drawings to CAD by scanning. Actually no, I've just checked in my workshop manual (a good read) and they were scanned to electronic form and then cleaned up, re-dimensioned and toleranced etc, but I guess when they needed to generate CAM files they must have been re-drawn in a CAD system. This would suggest you take the re-draw route.

Thanks for all the replies, looks like I'm going to have to re-draw as my friend has come to me because it was too expensive to get a company to scan it for him.

Which would you recommend out of Autocad and Draftsight for ease of use?

I'm not new to cad but I am new to reproducing these sort of drawings, looks like i'm going to be on here a lot in the next few weeks.

Unless you are using it all the time I find the latest versions of Autocad too complicated. I used to find Autocad 2000 to be good but my current machine won't run it so I use Draftsight which is similar - and it's free.

Russell

Definitely draftsight as it's free (unlike the robbing autodesk people!!!) and the interface and functionality is VERY close to autocad.

Excellent online help/videos and downloadable getting started 'ebook'.

if you get stuck ask on here or PM me and I may be able to help.

Andy.

In theory Corel Trace will convert line art to vector, and then you can load it onto Corel Draw and save as a DWG. In practice I find it impossible to set the filters to get a low enough node count fir it to be possible to tidy it up while preserving required detail.

What I do is import drawings (e.g. a crude 3-view) or bitmaps inro Corel Draw and draw the lines 'over' the bitmap. It's surprisingly quick and imagine would work even better in a true CAD programme.

Neil

You can do this in DraftSight by choosing from the menus; Insert > Reference Image. You will however have to ba careful to get the scale right.

Russell.

I used to find Autocad 2000 to be good but my current machine won't run it

Russell

I run Autocad 2000 on Windows XP and am worried that if I upgrade the PC it won't run. What is you current machine.

Peter

Peter,

Sorry I don't know if Autocad 2000 will run on Windows 7. Vista certainly gave problems. I was running it on Windows XP with no problems but I now run Linux with XP running on a virtual machine it used to run OK but an upgrade to the virtual machine software has broken something.

If you upgrade your machine why not stick to XP. Failing that, if you can stand the complexity of the program you can get Autocad 2013 here free of charge if you are either a student or a retired professional engineer.

Me, I'll stick to Draftsight nowthere are Mac, Linux, and Windows versions available all free.

Russell.

Hi Peter,

I find that compatibility modes in Vista will run old programmes that wouldn't run 100% under XP. I don't know if this applies to W7, but I expect it does. You need to open the 'properties' of the program ( .exe) file that causes problems and select teh compaitibility settings and choose an earlier version of windows it runs under.

Neil

Don't use autocad!!!!!! I use draft sight EVERY DAY, it's free, want help? PM me! I make .DXF files for XYZ machines daily, use it to interpret drawings....... I can't say how useful this software is. It works on windows 7, Linux? Maybe(think so) Mac possibly(think so).

its soooo easy, give it 1 day with the correct free training?

Andy

Thanks for the advice guys. I had wondered about the keep XP route but in time there may be problems with things like Internet Explorer. MS have ways of driving you to updates. Basically I am happy with the functionality of Autocad 2000 Lite and Office 2000 etc, at times, it would just be nice to take advantage of the speed of a new machine.

Peter

Andy,

Yes,the Mac version of DraftSight works fine.

MichaelG.

As does the Linux version.

Russell.

I have downloaded DraftSight onto Windows XP and even on my old machine it seems to perform well. It read and printed a drawing created by AutoCad without any problems. Looks like the way to go. Only gripe is that looking on Dassault's website I could not find a description of what functionality is covered and what computer spec is recommended. I can only assume everything in the professional edition is in the single user version and no embarrassing over printing. I looked at the AutoCad for students and the retired (by which I think they actually mean unemployed) and got frightened off by the varieties of AutoCad before you ever start using it.

Peter

Edited By Peter Seager on 29/06/2012 21:24:28

I couldn't find a description of functionality either but the hardware requirements are in the FAQ

Andy