Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
(OP)
I work as a mold designer for plastic injection molding tools and I am always at the mercy of the end customer as to what type of CAD data I get and have to build my tools around. We do 90% of our work in Pro/E WF2 but we also have ExpertCAD and Solidworks 2007 for support.
Recently I have recieved some native Solidworks 2006 parts (?? which SP though)and I have the order to build tools for these parts. I've used Solidworks now since 2005 but have never been a heavy user of it for work related tasks so I know my way around it well enough but I am stumped now.
Upon opening this part in either 2006 SP4.1(? on the SP again but it is 4.X) or 2007 SP0.0 the model reads fine and looks good, as the original part designer intended it to, in it's unregenerated state. But the second I hit rebuild I have a lot of drafts and rounds fail on me because of missing faces and edges and the part loses most of it's integrity and functionality. And in this day and age where people dont seem to send real, detailed prints along with their order anymore and just expect us to "make it to the model" I am in a jam because I cant go and edit the failed features when I dont know what should be what.
I cant really get to the original part designer becasue we are subcontracted by another company who is doing the part production. I figured I'd try to find out if there are any known system issues that might be casuing my part to fail before I go to my customer and tell them that their customer just sent us a bad part. I have to assume this model works for them without failure so I need to find out why I cant get it to do the same.
Any help or suggestions?
Thanks,
Frank Corona
Recently I have recieved some native Solidworks 2006 parts (?? which SP though)and I have the order to build tools for these parts. I've used Solidworks now since 2005 but have never been a heavy user of it for work related tasks so I know my way around it well enough but I am stumped now.
Upon opening this part in either 2006 SP4.1(? on the SP again but it is 4.X) or 2007 SP0.0 the model reads fine and looks good, as the original part designer intended it to, in it's unregenerated state. But the second I hit rebuild I have a lot of drafts and rounds fail on me because of missing faces and edges and the part loses most of it's integrity and functionality. And in this day and age where people dont seem to send real, detailed prints along with their order anymore and just expect us to "make it to the model" I am in a jam because I cant go and edit the failed features when I dont know what should be what.
I cant really get to the original part designer becasue we are subcontracted by another company who is doing the part production. I figured I'd try to find out if there are any known system issues that might be casuing my part to fail before I go to my customer and tell them that their customer just sent us a bad part. I have to assume this model works for them without failure so I need to find out why I cant get it to do the same.
Any help or suggestions?
Thanks,
Frank Corona






RE: Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
Can you roll-back the FM tree & allow it to rebuild step by step?
Do you still have a problem if doing a Ctrl+Q rebuild?
SW can open native Pro/E parts, can Pro/E open native SW parts?
RE: Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
I can rebuild it step by step but the geometry still fails. I am at a loss as what needs to really be fixed though because SW tells me that all the references are gone and I have no good model/print to guide me if I redefine the features to fix the problems myself. I may try to open the model and edit the features before rebuilding to see if I can make sense of what geometry was referenced.
I didnt try CTRL+Q....I always use the rebuild button. I dot know what it does but I'll try it.
And no, Pro/E cant open Native SW parts, at least with the packages we have.
RE: Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
Do you need all the features (Feature design tree)?
If all you need is the body (dummy) to get the geometry required to create tools, maybe all you need is a different format other than the native file.
Hope this help.
MM
(Mechanical)
Solidworks 06/PDMworks 06
Windows XP Professional 2002
AMD Athlon(tm)64 Processor 3000+
NVIDIA Quadro FX 700
RE: Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
CAD Administrator
SW '07 SP1.0, Dell M90, Intel 2 Duo Core, 2MB RAM, nVidia 2500M
RE: Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
FYI, Ctrl-Q forces regeneration from the very beginning of the part. SW usually regens from what it thinks is the last changed feature.
-b
RE: Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
RE: Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
RE: Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
CAD Administrator
SW '07 SP1.0, Dell M90, Intel 2 Duo Core, 2MB RAM, nVidia 2500M
RE: Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
I'm also in the middle of grabbing SP1.0 with some hope of finding a solution.
Thanks everyone.
RE: Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
However, you mentioned there were lost references. This sounds like the part was designed in the context of an assembly, and that the references weren't properly severed by the client before sending. Your problem may lie here instead of a corrupted file (or something similar). You may want to see if you can check that out.
Ideally, have the client (if you can get access to them) save a part in native format and in parasolid (*.x_t) format. Parasolid will be a dumb solid that won't give you any trouble. (The last thing you need is to start guessing at desgin intent--what if the designer wasn't very intentional? You'll likely guess wrong.)
Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
Reason trumps all. And awe trumps reason.
RE: Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
RE: Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
http://www.EsoxRepublic.com-SolidWorks API VB programming help
RE: Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
BTW, my vendors never get featured SW models from me. Mostly to avoid this exact situation. When I want a quote or a tool built, the vendor gets a file with one model and one configuration, with no features that can change or be lst on regeneration. There is also no reason to clutter up a vendor's hard drive or RAM with feature data he does not need.
I keep an archive of what vendors received which parasolids. File names include a date stamp. When there s a question, it is much easier to trace theorigin of the file in question.
Also, I never build a tool without a drawing to show critical tolerances. I will have vendors quote from just a 3D model, but never build without a drawing.
RE: Geometry failing when opening a native SW part
If you're one client away from the real client, good luck trying to express this to them. Sounds like the model is junk and the middle client may decide to do the dis-service of assuming you're not competent enough to get the work done. So they'll take the file to someone willing to cheat with the model and ultimately produce an illegitimate tool. (I hope not.)
I use TheTick's methods above to make sure I don't get bad tooling (with, of course, nobody willing to pay for it). If there's a problem with my file, I want to know about it and I'll change it myself. If not, I can be certain nobody will alter my file without obvious signs--since all they'll hold will be a collection of dumb solids.
Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
Reason trumps all. And awe trumps reason.
Red Flag Submitted
Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.
Reply To This Thread
Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.
Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!