OpenSCAD - Creating DXF's

In a recent post on the rlab google group (here ) regarding the laser cutter, a query about creating a dxf arose. David Price posted a solution using OpenSCAD and I thought the content was valuable. So I post it here for TVRRUG'rs

THE POST CONTENT FOLLOWS:

WRT stl to dxf conversion, OpenSCAD can do this - you arrange the object such that the section you want is on the XY plane at Z=0 and use the projection() function, compile (F6) then export as a dxf file. The result is compatible with the laser cutter software (newly draw), at least the object I did this with was.

Here's an example - F6 has been pressed and the section at z=0 is ready to export as a DXF;

Here is the dxf imported in to Inkscape;

Note the edges are made up of multiple line segments so will need tidying up.

This worked adequately to cut an acrylic microscope stage on the laser cutter from an OpenSCAD master a couple of weeks ago.

David