Hello All
I am currently doing a pcb for customer that sent me a dxf file. When I import it, it is impossibly big and out of focus. Any tips advice will be greatly appreciated as I just made the transition from Eagle to KiCad.
This is a super common thing in the mechanical CAD world. DXFs do not natively include units, so if your customer uses metric and you are in sae, you will usually get a 25.4x explosion [mm and in are the normal ‘default’ export options]. I have only dabbled in KiCad, but I bet somewhere there is an option to change units when importing.
Use a free DXF viewer like eDrawing or something else before importing. That way you can check what scale the dxf is in without having to go through the entire import sequence for each attempt.
Either that, or as an experienced KiCad person on here if they can help, if of course you are allowed to share the file and can hire extra resources at your discretion.
Good luck!
Make sure you are on the latest 5.1.x version of KiCAD, the DXF import has improved since 5.0 and now supports configuring scaling and outline width.
Hi There, Thank you all so much for your input. Got down to the issue. the DXF was not generated by an Autodesk application or Sketchup so when Imported it directly it was off scale. I imported it into Sketchup which immediately shown the correct measurements and then re-export via Sketchup. Re-try in KiCad and Success. Many Thanks for your input you guys are awesome. Warm regards from Port Elizabeth, South Africa.