Remove Interfering Volumes

[KYLE06716]

I have a woven mesh molded into a part. I have it visually modeled by simply putting the mesh inside the part and making the part transparent, but I would like to remove the volume of the mesh from its overmold so that I can have accurate numbers in my model.

Is there a way to remove this interfering volume from my overmold?

 

[3DDave]

Look for Merge/Cutout. It's part of assembly and allows using a part to either fuse to (merge) or remove material from (cutout) another part. It helps if both parts have the same absolute accuracy.

 

[KYLE06716]

Thank you very much. I see the option in assembly mode, but it seems to be grayed out. I tried it with nothing selected, with one part selected and with both selected...no dice.

 

[3DDave]

You may not have a license for that feature. If you are under maintenance you can ask which module is required.

 

[KYLE06716]

thanks alot

 

[dgallup]

You don't need any special license to do a merge/cutout. You do have to have the reference scope set properly. You have to allow external references in both the assembly and the part that is getting the material added/removed. In addition, there are several config options that may restrict what you can do. Check the settings of these:

allow_ref_scope_change YES
default_ext_ref_scope ALL
default_object_scope_setting ALL
default_object_invalid_refs COPY
ignore_all_ref_scope_settings YES
model_allow_ref_scope_change YES
scope_invalid_refs COPY

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The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

 

[dgallup]

As a side note, I never model things like a woven mesh, far too many surfaces. Doing a cutout of all those surfaces is going to make assembly level surfaces in the other part. It all adds up to model bloat, just like physically modeling screw threads. Some things are just better off with a simple representation unless there is some compelling reason for the detailed model.

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The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

 

[KYLE06716]

changed all those settings and still nothing

 

[KYLE06716]

Ok so I finally got it. I don't know if this is what you guys were talking about from the beginning, but I was able to do the cutout using

edit/component_operations/cut out

then selecting the over mold, and then the mesh.

Again, this is after I did everything you guys told me, so it may have all been necessary. But a standard trim/merge tool would not work.

 

[dgallup]

Yes, that is the assembly tool for merge & cutout. Thought you were there already. At least you learned something today.

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The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

 

[KYLE06716]

Nope, my mistake. I was trying to use the standard Edit/merge or edit/trim