I have modeled an object out of surfaces and I need to convert it into a solid. I have tried surfsculpt, offset, and thicken they all have their own error preveting it from working. I know there are tiny gaps in a few of the surfaces but I do not know how to close them. I have tried to stitch them I just dont think I am familiar enough with inventor to make it work. I can not attached the file it is to large I hope someone can tell me what I need to do.
Are you working in Inventor or still playing in AutoCAD?
How big is the file if you zip it? (right click on filename and select Send to Compressed (zipped) Folder.
If in Inventor you can make it even smaller by first rolling up the End of Part marker before zipping.
BTW - a jpg or png would have conveyed the same information at a fraction of the file size.
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It is quite large now It is 3300 kb when zipped. You are just the person i needed to speek with. You did good witht he first one but I had to change things. I am still palying around in both inventor and autocad this one project is just above my head.
I am new to 3D modeling everything I have done I learned myself just playing around. I did not know I could modify solids with surfaces. In the time it took me to get the solid you had made for me I had already modified my project and did not know how to incorprate the modifications to the solid. What I have now is completed as soon as I get it into a working STL, Parasolid, or IGES file.
What is the end use of the file - Parasolid and IGES are quite different than stl.
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Unless they are doing a simple Rapid Prototype you will probably be best sending them a STEP.
If you are having a Rapid Prototype made then stl. In Inventor be sure to set the Options to the same units as your model as Inventor defaults to centimeters regardless of document units.
You could send me the file and I'll try stitchin in Inventor - but no guarentees as I'm a bit busy this week.
You could download Inventor from http://www.autodesk.com/edcommunity
jmather_at_pct_dot_edu
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Is this slot supposed to go all the way through as shown in attached image?
There are some instructions for repair here, but this would be challenging for a beginner.
http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=class&session_id=3056
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The back does need to be solid with 1/8" material thickness to the specified point shown by the multiples of surfaces i have done lol. Also there are 2 ribs that join the 2 sides as well that need 1/8" material thickness.
@aguritzky wrote:The back does need to be solid with 1/8" material thickness to the specified point shown by the multiples of surfaces i have done lol. Also there are 2 ribs that join the 2 sides as well that need 1/8" material thickness.
You had zero thickness for the "back - to be solid 1/8 thick to specified point" which makes it a bit of guessing and "is this what you are after" on my part. Also the "ribs" had zero thickness that led me to believe these were extraneous left-over garbage. This kind of thing turns into a drawn out game of 20-questions that I'm less likely to get involved in.
A parametric modeler like Inventor records your history and design intent. I would run from AutoCAD for a design like this as soon as possible.
I'll see what I can do - but no promises.
A hint not shown in the video I linked earlier, in your ealier part there were too many ambiguities to Stitch in one operation as the computer has no vision and therefore cannot see what is obvious to you (or hopefully to me). So I stitched surfaces together two-by-two the way I thought they should go together until a solid was reached. Do this in the Construction Environment.
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Ya I understand what you mean and I apologize for my ignorance. I still have a lot to learn in inventor, my AS degree is for Architectural AutoCAD. I have noticed that inventor is a much better machining program. I did not know you could stitch one edge at a time. Every time I used the stitch command it would only select the entire assembly. I do plan on majoring in mechanical engineering at some point but I still need more substantial direction before I can finalize my decision. Again I appreciate any help you can give me and I will do what I can to make things easy for you or to do it myself.