Exporting multi body sheet-metal part to DXF/DWG files

 

You can create DXF/DWG files of sheet metal flat patterns from part documents without flattening the model or creating a drawing. Let’s look at several ways to achieve this.

Option 1
File > Save As > DXF or DWG.

Once you click save, DXF/DWG Output property manager will be open.

SolidWorks identifies all flat-patterns and listed under “Bodies to Export”. You can select the entities to export such as, Bend lines, Bounding box, etc. Finally, you can choose whether you want them in single file or separate files. Once you click OK, SolidWorks process the data and show you the preview.

You can see previews of all flat patterns by clicking on next icon. If you like, you can remove the entities from the flat pattern before saving.

SolidWorks automatically save each flat pattern as it appear in SolidWorks part file.

Option 2
RMB on Flat-Pattern in the feature manager tree -> Export to DXF/DWG

Once you click save, DXF/DWG Output property manager will be open. Under “Bodies to Export” only Flat-Pattern is selected. If you click “OK” this wouldn’t export anything. At this stage you need to clear the selections in “Bodies to Export” and select the Flat-Patterns from feature manager tree to Export. The rest of the process will be similar to option 1.