D-Sub Connector Cutouts

Please bear with an absolute noobie.

I build a lot of electronic projects and want to use my Shapeoko 3 to cut thin (.125 inch) electronic panels to mount connectors, switches, etc.

I use a lot of d-sub connectors which should be familiar to everyone because they are the connectors used on computers for serial connections (also called db 9, db 15 etc).

I have been unable to past a drawing of the connector body and mounting holes into carbide create. Most of the drawings on line are .jpg, but I’m sure that there are other file types. The trouble is, I am somewhat lost as to what file type I need and how to import it into carbide create. I would appreciate some guidance. Thanks

Fred

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I don’t use carbide create, but I do not believe it can take an image. You need to convert the image into a vector. Here is a tutorial on how to do it in Inkscape., which is a free program.

What you want to is find the highest resolution of the image you can. Use google image search and filter by size and try for at least 1024x768 resolution.

Good luck.

EDIT: Should have known Will would have already answered this :slight_smile:

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I would use CC to produce the profile fresh from the standard dimensions. One source is http://www.interfacebus.com/Connector_D-Sub_Mechanical_Dimensions.html

(no connection… this was just the first site I found with diagram and dimensions)

It is a better option than using an image, since you can adjust the clearances, scale, and hole positions and 1sizes more easily and more precisely than tracing an image. Clearance is a big one. Too little, and the connector won’t fit. Too much, and it looks bad and has gaps.

(I would actually use Inventor or OpenSCAD, or even Fusion360, to build a general model and use a parameter table to specify the variants, but that is not really elementary. It is something that you might consider for the future, as the sheet metal package for Fusion is pretty good, and laying a panel out with cutouts for connectors, controls, vent slots, and all, ready for bendup, makes life real easy)

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Google the name of the connector and the word ‘svg’ to try and find a line drawing. SVG will import directly into CC but I suggest learning a bit of Illustrator or Inkscape because the drawing tools are simply more powerful. They can export an SVG then you’d use CC to setup toolpathing.

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There is often something here as well (I haven’t looked specifically for this)
http://autodesk-fusion.partcommunity.com/3d-cad-models/

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