How to Import Sketched Parts into LightBurn from SolidWorks

This post goes hand in hand with my other post on how to perform a bulk save of multiple different parts. The benefit of bulk saving in SolidWorks is you can quickly export all the parts at once. The downside is that using the faces export function will not export any of the sketch work that was performed on the part. Sketch work can sometimes be important as these could be engraving lines or other markings that you want to be able to send over to LightBurn. Thankfully, there is another export option within SolidWorks for those specific parts.

Saving a Part as a .dxf in a SolidWorks Assembly

I’m going to be using a quick example file to demonstrate the couple of quick steps that will export all the creative designs you’ve been making in SolidWorks. The example I’m using is a small assembly file with two pieces. They are joined along the edge and one of the pieces has a sketch on the front of it. This sketch is simulating lines that need to be engraved by the laser but not cut all the way through. The assembly looks like this:

Since we want to save the singular part with the sketch to a .dxf file, I’m going to want to select annotation view when saving as a .dxf file. To do this, I click on “File” -> “Save As.” Under the “Save as type:” selection click the down arrow and choose Dxf. Choose the location and file name you would like to save it as and select Save. This will bring up the side menu for the DXF/DWG Output. Under Export “Annotation views” should be selected, under views to export it should have “Current” selected, skip Output Alignment and then single file. Finally select the green checkmark and this will bring a pop-up window like this:

Since I selected single file and have multiple parts in the assembly, the DXF clean up window is showing both of the parts in the view. I only want one part to be exported and not features from another part with it. So I cancel out of the clean up and instead right click on the part to be exported and select “Open Part.” This will open up the part in a new window by itself. From here I verify that the correct face is showing forward towards the viewpoint, in this case the front view, and I redo the previous steps of save as a Dxf. This time since only this part is in the window, at the clean up pop-up window I get the features I would like to export for this part:

Moving the .dxf File into LightBurn

I save this .dxf file and move onto importing it into LightBurn. Once in LightBurn assign the correct layers for cutting and engraving for the particular part. My cut lines are black and my engraving lines are green:

And just like that I have a part ready to cut in LightBurn from my 3D SolidWorks model. If any of the other parts in the assembly don’t require any sketch work, then I’d follow the bulk save method for the rest of the parts. I hope this post will make life easier moving files with sketches between SolidWorks and LightBurn and that you learned something along the way!

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