When making parts for water jet please keep in mind Bills time and the amount of work he has to do to make the part. He is super generous with his time and we don't want to take over his day.
HOW TO SEND FILES TO GET CUT
To make parts to send to bill start by selecting the face you want to have cut by right clicking on it.
2. Export it to DXF and save it to the appropriate folder. Give it the same name as the part just for keeping track of them.
3. You need to Import the file to AutoCAD or another 2D modeling software to edit the blocks and clean them up for Bill. So load up what ever your using, AutoCAD is free for students to using that is fine.
4. Create a new blank file and import the one of each block you wish to use.
5. Open each block in the block editor and remove the Solidworks education watermark in the bottom left corner. We don't want to have that cut out on the water jet and it saves Bill time.
6. Next arrange the parts by the type and thickness of material. After they have been sorted start copying them so that the number of parts you want is the same as the number of blocks in the document.
7. Label each group clearly so that it is clear what material and how many you want.
8. Once all the parts are imported and arranged make sure there is at least one dimension. This clarifies exactly how big the parts are so there is no guessing or unit issues.
9. Once your ready to send off the parts save the file in AutoCAD DXF 2013 file format (Its the only one that imports into rhino correctly ). Label the file in the format [ Order##-Descriptive-Title ] ex.
Order23-Frame-Gussets also make the subject of the email [ Order ## Descriptive Title ] so everyone knows what was send when for communications sake.
10. Pick the parts up!
11. Once they are back at the shop it's worth trying to sand/deburr all the external edges so that handling the part is easier and you won't make the inspectors mad for having sharp edges.