I have many PDF plans of planes but the problem is they r not vector PDFs so cannot convert them to CAD for laser cutting. Manually tracing can take even months if that's a Giant RC plane. Well m seeking for help in this issue.

I have a program for my Mac called pdf2cad. I've had limited success with it so I'm not sure how well it will do what you want. The results vary greatly depending on the PDF file converted. If you want to PM a file to me, I'll try to convert it and see what we get for results..

Yes I have tried that software but the problem with that is it is not good if u want to send that Cad file for CNC, coz it creates a series of pixels instead of line or polylines.
Still Thank u for interest in my thread

raster design is supposed to do what you are asking. we got it years ago at work to convert old line drawings so that we could as-built them easier. It does work pretty well on some lines and not so good on others. Still requires a lot of manual input. Hoped for a silver bullet, but did not work as had hoped. It is a rather expensive add-in to AutoCAD. Maybe later versions are better. I believe the one we used was a 2004 vintage. Good luck!

-Paul

I have send some of my PDF plans and one of the Cad drawings(manual plotting) to wfield0455 . If anyone wants the files I gets from conversion with software pls give me ur email.

This is the PDF I wants to convert and the zip contains some of my trials to convert it

Your trials are actually about as good as I have seen for autoconversion of a drawing like this. The original has lots of extraneous material (lettering, notes, material info, etc.) and is not a particularly clean scan as can be seen if you blow it up a lot.


I would recommend focusing your effort on the part of the plan you will be cutting, over on the right side of the drawing. Use an appropriate raster program to copy this part of the drawing. Then manually clean it up (in a raster program) by removing sheet outlines, text, arrows, and all other lines that will not be cut. This is only a few hours of work. Finally, go over the remainder looking for breaks in the lines. While these are not important to the human eye, they play havoc with automatic conversion to a vector format.


After performing these steps use the program you already had to import the drawing. In the programs I have used there are parameters to tweak which can help in dealing with corners and in the vector line count. I have no advice other than to experiment until you are happy.


My experience is that the result can then be tweaked into a usable product with only a few days of work. Not automated, but it beats starting from scratch be quite a bit.

Some of my works with Mitsubishi KI-15

Nice work! This is more than good enough for manual cutting. There are still issues that would make laser cutting tough (Aside from not being optimized for keyed, self aligning assembly.) See formers F13 and F14 and V3 for examples. Also, the PDF shows evidence of multiple overlapping lines (cuts) in some places which at the least will reduce cutting efficiency, and might cause other issues such as burning.

Thanks for the support CatalinaWOW you have been the reason I m posting all my work. Well my prime objective was to ready the parts for laser cutting and about alignment- actually even after laser cutting I still would need some sort of sanding for a proper fit. Well m trying to know more about working with CAD and would come with more accurate plans as I get the proper skills.

Ashay, there are guys that know way more than me about this sort of thing. I just muddle through. Hope one or more of them chimes in. In the meantime, here are a couple of more comments.


Those that pursue laser cutting full bore make fundamental changes to the design. Instead of formers with square balsa stringers they laser cut stringers that have notches to match the notches in the formers. This means designing entirely new parts. Other techniques include putting snap off parts on the formers which create a flat plane that can sit on a work bench during assembly.


While there may be many ways to design these parts, I think the path that most follow is to create a 3D model of the plane, and then use the CAD tools to slice appropriate parts for formers, etc. Still haven't made it up the learning curve to do this myself, so can't provide any advice other than possibly to sign up for a course at a local junior college or other such venue.


One way to get a relatively simple start in this is to design a simple structure like an engine box. No curved lines, and lots of symmetry.


Good luck with your efforts.