Surfaces to solids

[Morglisn]

Hey, peoples.

I recently received a transplanted file from one of our customers, which is composed of nothing but about 3-400 surfaces. It's painful to load and maneuver around with, yet I need to include it in one of our assemblies. Is there any way I can just juice all of these surfaces into one big, dumb solid?

Thanks for any help!

Brian

 

[TheTick]

Right-click the first surface feature in the model tree and select "Diagnosis". Hit the "close all gaps" button. If your surfaces sew-up watertight, you will get a solid when you exit. Even if there are gaps, fewer bodies will help.

I have found that it has been worth the money to have difficult files translated professionally so that they sew up into solids. Saves lots of time. Usually ROI on translation $$$ is about 3-4 man-hours for us and our burden rate. Also, solids behave better within assemblies and drawings.

There's no double-lock defense; there's no chain on my door.
And I'm available for consultation,
but remember your way in is also my way out

 

[SBaugh]

If you still need to knit the surfaces together. It won't be a solid till you do an Insert\Boss/Base\Thicken and check "Create solid from enclosed volume". Click ok if it accepts it then everything is fine. If not, then you still have some gaps or a face is missing. Whether in the Surface Knit or not I couldn't tell without seeing it.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376
When in doubt, always check the help

 

[krywarick6]

In my adventures, I have created solids by importing and exporting as IGES files, while trying to knit surfaces and creating solids on the way in. Sometimes there is a little bit of work to be done, such as deleting surfaces and replacing them. This is o.k. as ong as there are too many to attend to.

Sometime this flow must go back and forth a few times, but can generally help clean things up. Try checking the model for errors to determine your starting point to fix surfaces.

 

[JNR]

What is the source system you are receiving file from? There are some issues with differing CAD systems due to the different database or translation file accuracy. SW goes to 8 places. Some systems (including, I believe ACIS files) only go to 5 (some even go a lot more). That can result in "sliver" surfaces or gaps. Their system rounds off at 5 and calls them at the same value and good to go. SW rounds at 8 and finds a gap. This is not unique to SW. There was a great presentation at SW World 1 on this subject and some fixes. IF I can dig it up I will email it to you. Sometimes you can fix it by getting together with the source system user and trying out different options in their export command and/or different export formats. Also if you look in the SW help and the support website tips/FAQ, there used to be some useful data on this subject. Since they seem to do a lazy job of cleaning out and updating this information, it should still be there.

3/4 of all the Spam produced goes to Hawaii - shame that's not true of SPAM also.......