Can't turn surfaces into a shelled body

[engmechs]

Hi all,
I have a enclosure, using surfacing technique to construct, & after I believe everything is ready for final stage, I found out that the skinned feature can't be converted to shelled body.

A small point was located with the feedback from program, which showed a multiple faces jointed point is the problem. I separate this section out, & tried other surfaces which worked fine. A quick description: Imagine a curved surface overlap to a rectangular section, & a small portion of rectangular tip is exposed.

Several commands were tried, but with no luck, such as shell, thicken, offset surfaces. Can anyone give some advices?

Regards,

engmechs

 

[JohnAndrews]

If your model is created with surfaces, you need to use thicken, try changing the options from "Normal to Surface" to "Automatic Fit", you can exclude surfaces here also.

 

[engmechs]

Thanks JohnAndrews,
I tried it out, it improved the situation as I can see a model was generated. However, some edges had funny draft angles, & thickness were not even at several sections. Any tips?

Regards,


engmechs

 

[bvanhiel]

Offset the surfaces and trim them together to form the correct interior surface. You may need to make a surface patch to stretch over the problem area. Then use the inside surface quilt to cut the part and make it a shell.

-b

 

[engmechs]

Hi Bvanhiel,
Thanks for the tips! I will try it out on my model. As I am new to surfacing, can you show me more info on surface patch concept? I understand the idea of it, like using patch to fix problematic areas, ...etc. Is there any article on it which shows brief description?

Thanks in advance.

engmechs

 

[bvanhiel]

I don't have an article to point you two but the process is pretty straightforward.

1. Create an offset surface the thickness of the shell including as many of the non-problem faces as possible.
2. Offset the problem surfaces (if possible).
3. Trim the surfaces together.
4. If the surfaces won't trim neatly, you can cut away the bad areas using a projected trim and use a fill surface to close the gap.
5. Knit it all together and use it for a surface cut.

The big disadvantage to doing this is that it's unlikely to parametrically survive major changes. But if you've got no other choice...

-b

 

[engmechs]

Hi Bvanhiel,
Thanks for your tips. It is very helpful.
Regards,

engmechs