Experts please help

X-Carve Upgrades
1

So far with my X-carve I have used infinity designer( a wannabe illustrator) to export SVG’s of text and imported them into Easel. I have used easel to cut/carve everything I do. I am just ordered a Jtech Laser and I guess I was just thinking that I would be able to use Autocad or something to create everything and just do a “print” to use the laser(much like some other lasers I have seen) . But now I am very confused about how the process will work. Here is an example:

I found a DXF that I am looking to lasercut/engrave. It contains 3 separate layers.
Layer 1- Full cut
Layer 2 - Partial cut ( insets for a nut to fit into)
Layer 3 - Text to engrave.

So my questions are:
How do I get the DXF into a SVG format for easel or some other software?
Should I attempt to figure out Fusion 360 or something? I have messed with it a bit but I don’t understand how I can control the strength of the laser using it.
Am I even looking at this the right way? I have been in the world of 3D printers and different software for a while, but my Xcarve experience has really been limited to easel.

Thanks,
JB

2

adobe illustrator File formats supported for opening

Adobe Idea file (idea) (Illustrator CS6 only)
Adobe PDF (pdf)
AutoCAD Interchange File (dxf)
AutoCAD Drawing (dwg)
FreeHand (fh7, fh8, fh9, fh10, fh11, ft11)
FXG (fxg)
GIF89a (gif)
JPEG (jpg, jpe, jpeg)
JPEG2000 (jpf, jpx, jp2, j2k, j2c, jpc)
Macintosh PICT (pic, pct)
Enhanced Metafile (emf)
Windows Metafile (wmf)
Encapsulated PostScript (eps, epsf, ps)
Text (txt)
Microsoft Word DOCX (docx)
Microsoft Word (doc)
Microsoft RTF (rtf)
CorelDRAW 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (cdr)
Computer Graphics Metafile (cgm)
TIFF (tif, tiff)
Photoshop (psd, pdd)
BMP (bmp, rle, dib)
PCX (pcx)
Pixar (pxr)
PNG (png)
Targa (tga, vda, icb, vst)
SVG Compressed (svgz)
SVG (svg)
Adobe Illustrator (ai, ait)
Illustrator EPS (eps, epsf, ps)

3

Inkscape import/export formats.

Inkscape natively supports opening or importing SVG, SVGZ (gzipped SVG), PDF and Adobe Illustrator (.ai) formats. And, as of version 0.91, Inkscape can import CDR (CorelDraw) and VSD (Visio) natively.

With the help of extensions, Inkscape can open a number other vector formats. For importing PostScript or EPS, please see How to open EPS files in Windows. For formats of Dia, XFig, or Sketch, you need to have those programs installed.

Inkscape can natively import most raster formats (JPEG, PNG, GIF, etc.) as bitmap images, but it can only export PNG bitmaps.

Inkscape does not intend to export other raster formats than PNG as this is currently the most suitable format for vector graphics: it is an open format which uses lossless compression and is typically supported by all graphics or rendering software.
If you need to convert your vector image into another raster image format (e.g. because your document contains bitmaps and the PNG file size is too large, or you want to use your vector image on a platform which only accepts JPEG), you will need to convert the exported PNG with another software (such as GIMP or ImageMagick) or an extension (see this one for JPEG).

Inkscape can save as SVG, SVGZ, PDF, Postscript/EPS/EPSi, LaTeX (.tex), POVRay (.pov), HPGL, and MANY others. Starting with version 0.91, Inkscape can save as: FXG (Flash XML Graphics), SIF (Synfig Animation Studio), HTML5 Canvas, and there are improvements for XAML export. Please see “Exporting Other File Types” section of the Exporting Files chapter of the manual, for more details.

4

So you think I should stick with using easel for using my Laser? or switching to something else to make the toolpaths and using gcode sender or something?

Thanks,
JB