Sheets to Solid Bodies

[REDesigner09]

Hi NX'rs,

I have 4 sheet bodies with unique profiles. I now want to make a solid body either directly from the sheet bodies or use them to cut the final profile.

I "sewed" the sheet bodies together, but don't recall on how to make a solid body. Creating another solid body & using the sheets to trim does not seem to be working.

What's the process to create a solid body from the sheets or to use them as cutting tools?

Thanks

 

[JohnRBaker]

If you sew the sheets together and they form a 'watertight' body, then the result will automatically be a solid.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[REDesigner09]

Hi John & Others,

I have 6 sewn sheet bodies - 4 sides & top & bottom. Visiually, it looks o.k, but they're still not a solid body.

I've submitted a CAD file for example.

I attempted to upload a NX 7.5 file, but it's not able to upload at this time. I'll have to try again later.

Thanks

 

[JohnRBaker]

Before you go any furture, go to...

Preferences -> Modeling -> General

...and check to make sure that the 'Body Type' option is set to 'Solid'.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[REDesigner09]

Hi John,

My preferences aren't the issue here in that they are already set to the suggested settings stated above.

If I click in the "sew" feature, all sheet bodies (walls - sides & top & bottom) highlight as they should be. However, it's still a bunch of (connected) sheet bodies.

For whatever reasons, I can't upload my CAD file either, otherwise I would submit for review.

 

[cowski]

Run examine geometry and check for sheet boundaries. This will highlight areas where the edges of the sheets don't meet.

 

[REDesigner09]

Hi Guys....

The Examine Geometry check doesn't highlight any issiues or discrepancies.

What might be the other causes?

 

[cowski]

What method/command are you using that reports it as sheet bodies?

 

[REDesigner09]

Hi Everyone,

I attempted to upload my NX 7.5 CAD file for review, but for whatever reasons, the system is not uploading it.

In it's place, I created a small presentation, along with some pictures of my issues.

Please review & suggest

Thanks

 

[JohnRBaker]

Why are you even sewing sheet bodies together? This is the sort of thing which can be produced using the Swept Solid function where it's created as a solid body in a single operation.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[REDesigner09]

Hi John,

As you can kind of see in the pics, this area has a couple of transition & twist areas.

Initinally, I thought the Through Curve or Through Curve Mesh features would define this area well, but as you can see, some areas becomes "funky" & gives undesirable results.

At this point, I've tried a 100 different ways from creating a solide then, using the sheet bodies to trim to whatever else.

Each process works to a degree, up until that point where I can't control & cant' get my desired solid body geometry.

Obviously, I'm doing something wrong here... I've done similar jobs in the past & didn't have these many issues....

Whatever works - That's the answers I'm seeking...

Thanks again for the assistance...

 

[JohnRBaker]

Can you just upload the model consisting of the curves and NOT the solid/sheet bodies?

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[REDesigner09]

Hi John,

I compressed the file size whic probably was the problem before that prohibit me to upload the file.

This time, it looked like it worked...

 

[JohnRBaker]

OK, here's my first cut at this using Swept Surface with 2 Guide curves (I've only included the curves and objects needed to define this body).

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[REDesigner09]

Hi Everyone,

It took me to two dam days & a lot of trial & errors, but somehow, I finally got my sheet bodies to become solid bodies.

However, the geometry is still not perfect, but it's not horrible either.

I used the Through Curve Mesh feature & made 2 halves. Previously, I was sectioning these into 4 walls. For the most part, this seems to work, but for whatever reasons before, it didn't.


Now, if I could figure out on how to get "cleaner" geometry that doesn't over revolve & give a "hump" appearance...

Any suggestions....???

 

[REDesigner09]

Hi John,

You make it look so easy.... I know I tried something similar several times & I did or still not get the same "desireable" results as you did.

I tried to duplicate your processs, using the same settings, line type selection - Tangent & vector direction. However, my solid faces are resulting in very choppy faces.

See attached pic.

I'll try again in the morning...

 

[REDesigner09]

Hi John,

I noticed you added a Datum Coordinate System in your example, which is something that I don't have in my model.

What does this do?

 

[edgray]

back to the sewing issue. When I have trouble sewing surfaces together some times I can get it to work by adjusting (increasing) the tolerance value.

 

[JohnRBaker]

I noticed you added a Datum Coordinate System in your example, which is something that I don't have in my model.

What does this do?

Nothing!

The method I used to get a part file which ONLY contained the information needed to model what I had was to export the solid body and all if references to an empty Part file which already contained the Datum CSYS since my Modeling template files all have a Datum CSYS as the first entity just in case I need to for reference when I start constructing something. In this case, it was just there by default and added nothing to the solution.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[REDesigner09]

Hmm?

As far as I can tell, I'm duplicating your process & yet, I'm clearly not getting the same results. Therefore, I guess I'm not duplicating your process.


Is there a specific process that I should be following? I know NX can be sensitive to pick selections, line entity types, etc., but considering this is all from my my model, this shouldn't be an issue.

Thanks