Rhino to Solidworks question

I have a file translation question. I built a water tight Rhino model
and exported it as an IGES. A tool company imported the model into
Solidworks, with no errors, it showed up as 4 solid bodies. The tool
company guy now says that he can't use the 4 solid bodies that showed no
errors in SW. Is the problem that maybe the tool company guy doesn't
know what to do next or shouldn't he be able to create his mold from the
4 solid bodies. I think the lack of history is stopping him, but
shouldn't an experienced SW modeler be able to work from the 4 solid bodies?
Michael



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Michael Gailey
Artistic CNC Mill, Router and Engraver Programming
3D modeling for Product Design and Development
http://www.microsystemsgeorgia.com/toc.htm

 

It should be possible to combine the 4 solid bodies into 1.

However there could be no errors showing up after importing the IGES file,
but there may well be errors in the geometry after the conversion or a
problem with the geometry after combining the solid bodies into one.

It's hard to know what the problem is without seeing the actual file.

If you can get the tool guy to combine the bodies into one and then export
the SolidWorks file into something Rhino can read, you will then be able to
establish if the geometry has changed.

John Layne
www.solidengineering.co.nz

 

John,
This is an assembly with four components that do not need to be
combined. My question is that if the 4 solid bodies imported good but
without the history why can't he work on them? The assembly has a left
side, a right side and two separate pivot pin components. The tool guy
will be building mold halves for forging from the left and right side
pieces. The parting line is flat, there is nothing bizarre beyond that.
It seems that after adding draft and the minimum radius definition,
splitting the halves would be all that is left. FWIW, I was requested to
not include draft in the version I built. I insisted to include the
draft but was told not to add it. The customer wanted the model to
represent the finished tool. Machine stock was also omitted.
The project is under NDA so I can't upload it here.
Michael



--

Michael Gailey
Artistic CNC Mill, Router and Engraver Programming
3D modeling for Product Design and Development
http://www.microsystemsgeorgia.com/toc.htm

 

Ok - a little confusion regarding terminology, in SolidWorks a part file can
be made up of separate bodies. Hence I thought you had exported a single
part that came into a SolidWorks part file as 4 separate bodies.

The SolidWorks files may well need to have a lot of time spent on them to
make the geometry usable for toolmaking purposes, depending on the
complexity of the part. Without a history tree the toolmaker could struggle
to add radii and draft, the toolmaker may need to recreate the entire model
within SolidWorks to make it editable. This is of course not impossible just
time consuming.

Again- it is hard to understand what the problem is without seeing the files
and since the NDA prevents disclousure it's going to remain that way. You
could send me the files directly to my FTP site, I'm willing to sign a NDA
if it helps.

John Layne
www.solidengineering.co.nz

 

Its possible that the tool guy doesn't know how to work with multi-body
parts or has a CAM package that can't do it. Once he figures out there
are several ways to go from a multi-body part to several single body
parts, I think he'll be alright.

 

I think there was a misunderstanding regarding Mulit-body parts Michael
seems to have a 4 part assembly.


Michael Wrote.
"This is an assembly with four components that do not need to be
combined."

John Layne
www.solidengineering.co.nz

 

If the fellow is creating tooling that should not be an issue working
with dumb surfaces. Solidworks is built to create tooling from igs
files etc.

If this is an organic part, there will be difficulty in applying draft
after the fact. Perhaps your guy assumed that it was a prismatic solid
(in which it is much easier to apply draft)

What process are you trying to apply? Fillets, shells. Fillets might
fail if there are blending surfaces. What processes cannot be done.
This would clear the problem somewhat.

(Actually the fact that your files arenot watertight usually doesnt
matter to CAM programs. They can create tooling paths just fine from
freefloating surfaces.