from solid to surface

Hi all,
Fairly new to solidworks. I have created a model from extrusions and
need to turn it into surfaces so i can make it hollow, so that i can
then thicken it.
Any ideas how I can go about this.
Many thanks
Alex Kemsley

 

There are a number of ways. The most straightforward in some ways is to use
offset surfaces of your existing solid with an offset of 0 to make a new
surface, then thicken it. A similar approach is to use the knit surface tool
to knit all of the surfaces of your existing solid, again making a new
surface that you can thicken. A trickier approach is to delete a face on
your solid. This will turn it into a surface part with a hole in it. Use the
fill surface tool to replace the missing surface, then thicken the part.

If the surface part can't be thickened, you might need to offset surfaces
yourself. In that case, you should probably just offset surfaces at your
desired thickness from the original solid. You will have to split the
offsets up to work your way around the parts that cause the thicken to fail.
Use the mutual trim option on the surface trim tool to make a water proof
inner surface, then use cut with surface to subtract out the interior
volume.

Jerry Steiger
Tripod Data Systems
"take the garbage out, dear"

 

Use the shell feature. Read the help first.

 

Try "Delete Face", using the option to remove the face without healing.
this gives you a surface body of the entire solid minus the face you
deleted.

Need to keep the deleted face? Before deleting, copy the face using
Surface--> Offset, then knit the surface bodies together.

 

Hey Tick,

Why're you answering me,,,, ;>)

If you read his post, it sounds like what he's trying to "do" is create a
shelled part.

He probably had to jump through all those hoops with the last system he
used, and doesn't know any better.


Mark

 

Considering the replys I would love to see your part. Can you zip and
post it at http://www.mcadforums.com or
http://forum.solidworks.com/swforum/

 

Double-whammy! Need to reply with more precision AND understand
original post better!

Sorry.