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"Shrink Wrap" in solidworks

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brudje

Mechanical
Nov 18, 2004
46
Is there similar function to Pro/E Shrink wrap in SDW??? I need to send out some assemblies to have some cases made, the vendor is only interested in the silhouette of each assembly...
I also would feel better knowing that our completed proprietary designs aren't being shuffled about...

Thanks in advance...
 
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I don't know what the Pro/E function is but I've used the SWX "Join" command to send a single part file that is a composite of the assembly.

If you break the external references before you release it then there's no connection to the original part files. However, internal features can still be exposed by sectioning the model. They'd have to recreate the parts and mates, though.

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I'm not very familiar with ProE's shrinkwrap feature, but I think it is basically just a 'dumb solid' or 'dumb surface' export.

In SWX, you can save your assembly as STEP, or IGES, or parasolid.

I have also used the 'Save As Part' option in SWX. This gives you some options to simplify unseen geometry in your assembly.
 
Take your assemblies and save as part. My part of a subassembly turned out larger than the assembly. Now my upper assembly does not crash as much anymore. I am sure I have a bad link in my subassembly.

Bradley
 
Save the assembly as a part. You will have three choices, outer surfaces, visible components and all components as solids. This capability was put in in 2003 when multibody parts became available.

In addition, you could take the part and randomly scale it if you don't want dimensions taken from it.

There are occasions when saving as surfaces might not get all surfaces. [smile]
 
Their is save assembly as a part like mentioned above but I've found the files really don't reduce much in size. I just did a test on a 4.7 meg assembly choosing the exterior surfaces it reduced to 3.7 meg.

I use shrinkwrap with Pro/e 2001 and it's much more powerful then just saving an assembly as a part. The file sizes reduce further then the 25% reduction I just tested.

Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SW2005 SP 2.0 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0
NIVIDA Quadro FX 1400
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

Do you trust your intuition or go with the flow?
 
Thanks for all your input...
Saving the assembly as a part file seems to be what I was looking for...
I am not so concerned with file size. I just want to give vendors and outside contractors only what they need, without giving up too much detail of the individual feature and parts.
 
Suppress the parts/subassys you don't want vender to see, then save as either part or parasolid .x_t

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP2.0 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site
FAQ371-376
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-1091
FAQ559-716
 
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