Mat Cutter DXF Files

A computerised mat cutter (CMC) cuts a mount's windows with a bevelled blade, its V-grooves with a V-groove head and its outside with a straight blade. ParametrIQ CAD writes a mount for the CMC's own software to import, sorting every line into the cut it needs: write it with File › Export › Export…, choosing Mat Cutter DXF Files (.dxf). For an HP-GL plot file instead, see Mat Cutter HP-GL.

The cutters' own job files (Wizard's, Gunnar's, Valiani's) aren't published, so they aren't written: each maker's software imports DXF, and that is the route this export takes. Wizard's FrameShop opens DXF in its Trace Editor (PathTrace), where each layer is traced with its cut; Gunnar's GMC software imports DXF (and PLT) with a mapping of shapes to tools; Valiani's V-Studio and OptiCrop import DXF.

What it writes

Each line of the page you are working on is sorted:

Kind of cut	Which lines	Layer	Colour
V-groove	On the V-cut layer, or a layer with "groove" in its name	VGROOVE	5 (blue)
Bevel (45°)	Closed shapes inside another closed shape: the windows, square, oval or round	BEVEL	1 (red)
Straight (90°)	Everything else on a cutting layer: the mount's outside	STRAIGHT	7 (black or white)
Pen	The Bevel layer's lines (where each bevel meets the back), if you ask for them	PEN	3 (green)

Lines on the Dimension layer and other layers that aren't cut, and text, are left out. A double mount's two boards, or several mounts side by side, each keep their own outside and windows.

They are written in the order a mat cutter cuts: pen lines, then V-grooves, then windows, then the outside, so the board stays whole (and held) until the last cut. Each shape is a closed POLYLINE (arcs as bulges, ovals fitted with arcs) in an AutoCAD R12 DXF (AC1009), the oldest and most widely read DXF: mat cutter software reads older DXF most reliably. The file's first line, a comment, says its units.

Options

Option	Does
Units	Millimetres or inches: the units the file's coordinates are in.
Layer and colour, for each kind of cut	The DXF layer it goes on and that layer's AutoCAD colour number (1 to 255). Set them to the names your cutter's import is set up for.
The outside (straight cuts)	Off for a board already cut to size: only the windows and grooves are written (still measured from the board's corner).
Bevel lines with the pen	The Bevel layer's lines drawn with the cutter's pen, so you can see where each bevel will meet the back.
Arcs	Arcs and ovals as arcs (bulges); off, as short straight lines within the curve tolerance.
Origin	The board's bottom left corner (every coordinate 0 or more: most cutters measure from the board's corner), or the drawing's own origin.
Mirrored (cut face down)	Left and right swapped, for a cutter that cuts the board face down and doesn't mirror a design it imports itself. Most CMC software mirrors for you: leave it off unless the cut mount comes out the wrong way round.
Shapes cut	Anticlockwise, clockwise or as drawn: which way round windows and the outside run, the file's coordinates seen with x to the right and y up.

Your choices are remembered for the next export (apart for millimetre and inch drawings). Machine profiles for Wizard, Gunnar and Valiani cutters come with the app, so File › Send Using Machine Profile writes the file with their settings in one click.

On the machine

Export the mount (or send it with the cutter's machine profile).
Open or import the file in the cutter's software.
Once, tell the import what each layer is: BEVEL the bevel head (45°), VGROOVE the V-groove, STRAIGHT the straight (90°) head, PEN the pen. In Wizard's Trace Editor, trace each layer with its bevel type; in GMC, map each layer to its tool kind.
Check the board size and the windows on the screen, then cut as usual.

The library's Window mount, Double mount and Oval and circle mount designs (see Picture framing) and the Mount Aperture, Multi-Aperture Mount and V-Groove tools draw mounts this export sorts as it should.

See also: Mat Cutter HP-GL, DXF, File Formats.