Surfaces
Surfaces
(OP)
I have an imported surface (automotive metal) which I am trying to cut down a little so that I can get a better look inside a cavity formed by what will be three panels coming together. As a bit of a newbie, I am having problems. Why can't I cut with surface? I have tried thickening the geometry to make it a solid, but no luck.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Paul.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Paul.






RE: Surfaces
RE: Surfaces
RE: Surfaces
I have ticked all of the check boxes. Still no good. It looks like I will have to take another look at how it was exported from it's original application (I-DEAS) to see if it can be improved.
Thanks,
Paul.
RE: Surfaces
All I need is a small section of the panel.
RE: Surfaces
You could also try a split line. This will split a surface into multiple surfaces. You can then either delete (prefered) or hide the unwanted surface body.
RE: Surfaces
Are the converging panels part of the same surface?
If not, you might be able to hide your view-blocking surface, or make it a transparent material.
Or, is it possible to use the Section View?
Dave G.
RE: Surfaces
RE: Surfaces
It sounds like you are trying to cut a solid with an imported surface.
the deal is this when cutting with a surface:
1> the surface must be as big if not bigger than the block you are cutting from.
2 The surface must be free of imperfections that can usually accompany imported surface data.
3>The surface can not have any holes in it
4> the surface must not have any invalid geometry (faces) in it.
5> the surface must be one conituous surface (not broken into many faces in the Featuremanager)
in case number 1 above make sure that your block is not larger than the surface.
In case number 2 use your TOOLS/CHECK tool to analyze the surface to see if there are any imperfections. If there are any use the Diagnose tool to fix them. Right mouse on the surface in the feature manager, if you have more than one showing in the feature manager, any of them will do. Select "Diagnose" A property manager will come up and have two areas... one for gaps, and one for faces. Select diagnose on the gaps section first and if any come up in the results box select close all. In the faces then click "Diagnose" and wait for any invalid faces to appear.. if any do show up then click on repair and see if that fixes the problem
This should do the trick
Sometimes though the automatic repairs dont always work and you may have to use solidworks surfacing functionality to repair the surface yourself.
Hope that helps
Regards,
Jon
jgbena@yahoo.com
RE: Surfaces
I'll have another go at I-DEAS to see if it can export better.
Thanks everyone,
Paul.
RE: Surfaces
I made the surfaces into a solid before I exported them to an IGES format. This solved my problem.
SORTED!!!
Many thanks to everyone.