Continue to Site

Eng-Tips is the largest engineering community on the Internet

Intelligent Work Forums for Engineering Professionals

  • Congratulations cowski on being selected by the Eng-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

How Can I Extrude A Stp File 3

Status
Not open for further replies.

labadore

Industrial
Sep 7, 2006
2
First and formost I am brand new to solidworks..

With that said, I have an aluminum stp file I've opened with solidworks. I want to be able to use this same stp file to create different parts then build an assembly. I'm having trouble lengthing the part. I Can't figure out how. I've tried to goto sketch mode, then set smart dimensions, finally Features->Extrude Boss/Bass but the option is not available unless I leave sketch mode. Even then it says select a plane or planar face etc so I select a face and extrude is no longer available. I must be missing something..

PLEASE HELP

Thanks in advance!!
 
Replies continue below

Recommended for you

When you open the STP file do you run the Feature Recognition module? Or are you working with a "dumb" imported body?

If the former you should be able to simpy edit the feature to change its parameters.

If the latter, you can create normal sketches on the parts faces & use the Extrude Boss or Extrude Cut tools to create features. You can also use the Insert > Face > Move... tool on individual faces.

[cheers]
Helpful SW websites faq559-520​
How to find answers ... faq559-1091​
SW2006-SP5 Basic ... No PDM​
 
You're definitely going to need to work the tutorials and check the Help files within SolidWorks to understand the basics. A forum is no place to learn such basic stuff like extruding forms. Fortunately, both the Help and tutorials in SolidWorks are great and easily navigable.

After getting a handle on how to extrude a sketched form, check out what CorBlimeyLimey posted to work with the imported file.

Jeff Mowry
Reason trumps all. And awe trumps reason.
 
Thanks for the help CorBlimeyLimey, I'll give that a shot..
 
I'm guessing you've pulled in a short piece of aluminum structural extrusion (Bosch, 80/20, etc). Choose one of the end faces, insert sketch, and convert entities. You can then extrude it as far as you like.
 
If it's only a single extrusion, why not create a sketch? Recreate the profile in a sketch (using "convert etities" as mentioned before), then remove those constraints and redimension as needed. Then you can get rid of the imported body.
 
To take TheTick's suggestion one step further, you could then save the sketch as a weldment profile and use the structural member tools to create your frame, get a cutlist, etc. One caveat about using an actual profile, however, is that the cross section of structural aluminum extrusion is usually quite complex, with lots of radii, etc. that really eat up system resources when you create a frame of much size. The extra complexity is also of little benefit, since extrusion structures are usually fairly large in comparison with the profile details. You end up with a lot of lines on your drawing that are so close together that they merge into one solid, fat line. You can usually get a way with just using a plain square for the profile rather than including the mounting slots, interior holes, etc. Unless you're trying to calculate weight, of course! Even then, you could back a density out of weight-per-foot (usually available in the catalog) and use that for the part density.
 
Hello labadore,

All good tips, one thing to consider... if the profile is simple, you may just want to model the part from scratch in SolidWorks. That way you control the design intent and can easily create "simple" versions and different configurations. You may need configurations if you are creating "differen parts" as you said in your original post.

FeatureWorks is great, but may not give you the design intent you need. You could use the actual profile, but as "handleman" said there could be too much detail.

And finally, I highly recommend taking a SolidWorks course to anyone who is new to SolidWorks. Personally, I benefited from SolidWorks courses. If you haven't taken one, you may want to consider this option.

Best wishes,

Joseph
 
Also, SolidProfessor has a great set of video tutorials--very effective. And as someone (forgot who) posted about a month back, you can search youtube.com with "SolidWorks" and find some useful tutorial videos as well--for free. Good way to get up and rolling quickly.

Meanwhile, it looks like everyone else has done a great job getting you on your way with the STEP file you mentioned.

Good luck.

Jeff Mowry
Reason trumps all. And awe trumps reason.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor