Importing Sink Cutouts
Many sink manufacturers post sink cutout templates online. You can download these files and use them in your drawings. The preferred file type is DXF (Drawing Exchange Format).
The best way to find a cutout template is to use Google and search for the model number of your sink and dxf. For example, the first result when searching for k-3177 dxf is a page on Kohler’s website with a link to the cutout DXF file.
If you are having trouble locating a cutout, the website stonecoldcnc.com has a large list of DXF files freely available.
Because cutout files may contain elements that are not compatible with the CAM program, it is suggested that you copy the sink cutout and paste it into another drawing.
The sink cutout files may contain more than one cutout template. For example, the inner solid line is a no reveal cutout, and the other is a reveal cutout. Other useful information may be found in the DXF file.
Undertone® K-3177 cutout by Kohler
source: http://www.us.kohler.com/us/catalog/productDetails.jsp?productNumber=3177
Step One - Determine the Unit of Measurement Used
Once you download a sink cutout, you will first need to determine the unit of measurement. To do so, go to the menu bar and click Tools ⇢ Inquiry ⇢ Get Distance to begin using the get distance tool. This measuring tool does not draw anything, but instead gives a distance based on the points specified.
Use this tool to confirm the distance of a known measurement. The easiest way to do this is to follow a dimension line that is already included in the file. After you specify the two points you measured, information like this will be displayed in the command window:
Distance = 29.2500, Angle in XY Plane = 0, Angle from XY Plane = 0 Delta X = 29.2500, Delta Y = 0.0000, Delta Z = 0.0000
In this case, the distance measured was 29.2500, which corresponds with the sink width in inches. This tells us that the drawing uses inches as its unit of measurement.
This means that the cutout can be pasted into a countertop file that uses inches, (before it has been scaled to millimeters). If the cutout used millimeters, it should be pasted into the countertop drawing after it has been scaled into millimeters.
Step Two (Optional) - Cleaning up the Drawing
Many times these cutout files come with unwanted entities, such as dimensions, text descriptions, center lines, etc. These other entities can make it difficult to select the cutout for copying, without selecting unwanted entities.
To help clean up we will working with layers. Entities can be drawn on different layers as a way to organize them and layers can be made visible or invisible.
Extra entities, such as comments or dimensions, are usually on a different layer than the cutout. So we will be making all layers, except the cutout’s layer, invisible.
First we need to know on which layer the cutout is. Select an entity that is part of the cutout, then from the menu bar click Tools ⇢ Inquiry ⇢ Get Properties. A window will appear a list of properties, one of which will be the layer, in this case _CURVE:
Once you have identified the layer, you can close the window.
Next, from the menu bar click Format ⇢ Layers. You will now see a list of layers; find the cutout’s layer (_CURVE in our case), right click on it and select Activate Layer:
Now, Right click on the layer once again, and this time select Specify all but Active. All of the layers should be highlighted, except for the cutout’s layer.
To make these other layers invisible, click one of the highlighted layers’ green dots:
This will make those dots turn grey, and the corresponding layers invisible.
Click OK to return to the drawing. You should now notice that most of the extra entities that were in the image above have now disappeared:
You can now easily select the desired cutout.
Step Three - Copy the Cutout into a Different File
Because the manufacturers’ DXF file may have been made using a different format than our CAM program uses, it is not recommended that you use the cutout file and send it CAM. Instead, you should copy the cutout and paste it into another file.
Before copying, be sure to verify that the new file uses the same units as the cutout file. If it does not, use the scale tool to convert the units.
First select the cutout’s entities and then, right click and select Copy.
Next, open a countertop file, or create a new file. Right click in the drawing area and select either Paste or Paste as Block.
Paste (left) will paste the cutout as individual entities, and Paste as Block (right) will paste the entire cutout as one entity:
You may prefer Paste as Block, as the cutout will become easier to select if you need to move it later on. If you need to modify specific entities, you can use the explode tool to break up the cutout into individual entities.