First time user: STL file is in two pieces

[markandcandyingle]

Hello everyone!  My name is Mark Ingle and I am new to Fusion 360.  My design experience is limited to Blender creating STL files for 3D printing....about two years experience with Blender.  Recently I discovered Blender was limited to designing integrated moving parts so I am working to teach myself F360.....just like I taught myself Blender.  My method is to dive in and challenge myself with designs for some of my own needs!  I am starting with replacing the plastic top cover of a handheld remote for trolling motor.

So I am working to design a plastic top cover for a remote control device.  The original cover is broken and does not seal well enough.  Below is a screenshot of the design so far...

The problem I am having is actually on the bottom where I have a square extruded into the sphere and 1mm shell configured.  The square aligns and seals the bottom cover.  The piece I am designing is the female.

Here is the actual problem:  When the object is exported to an STL the square and the sphere are actually two separate pieces.

I am worried that there is a fundamental understanding around creating objects in F360 that I am missing.  If it will help to view the file as well I will try and figure out how to get it posted.

Here is a shared link.....let me know if it works.  This is my first time!

http://a360.co/2dLCMvl

[xander.luciano]

Hello! Welcome to the forums 🙂

The reason it is 2 pieces is because the model inside fusion is also in two pieces. If you do a section analysis you can see they don't actually touch each other.

In order to correct this, I would suggest just extruding the top face up further and using the Extent "All" to make the bodies combine. Like this:

Then it'll be one solid model! 🙂

Let me know if you'd like a screencast of it.

Best,

[etfrench]

I've seen this in Slic3r when the shell is too thin.  Can you verify that it's actually 1mm thick using the Section Analysis tool on the Inspect menu?

[xander.luciano]

Ah! I actually don't have any experience in Slic3r so that's good to know! In this case however, it was simply the fact that the extruded body was simply not enough to reach the other body. Not sure why I choose the section view I did since that was a poor representation, here's a better view:

Now you can clearly see why it was showing 2 parts instead of 1! After extruding the top up though, here's what the section looks like:

Hope that clarifies things and thanks for the info! 🙂

Best,

[markandcandyingle]

Thanks for the help!  After setting Extent to All the cut removes the top layer 😞  do you get the same result?  The square should extend down from the top of the cover.  Maybe I have something else set wrong?

Section Analysis is showing 1.00 mm

[xander.luciano]

Hello Mark!

You're so close to having it! All you gotta do is change the operation from "cut" to "join" and it should work! 🙂




Best of luck!
-Xander Luciano

[markandcandyingle]

Ugh!  I tried that but it just makes the square disappear.  Any other suggestions?  I really appreciate your help!

[xander.luciano]

Instead of editing the existing extrude, create a new one using the top of the box. You may have to use a section analysis to hide some of the model to see it easier: Inspect -> Section Analysis

If you still have trouble, I'll make a screencast of how to do it for you 🙂

[markandcandyingle]

Okay.  I will give it a try tomorrow evening.  I think I understand what I need to do.....I will let you know how it goes.  Thank you so much for your help!

Good night!

[markandcandyingle]

This is harder than I thought!  I am not familiar with Section Analysis.  Can you share some basic info on Section Analysis?

[markandcandyingle]

I deleted the square (sketch) and drew one from the top but the sketch is being placed on the bottom of the case....

[etfrench]

When you select the Section Analysis tool, you need to specify which plane it will be working on. With organic models you'll need to do the following. Select one of the planes shown by the Origin.  Alternatively, select any flat plane on a model. After selecting the plane, there is an arrow and dialog box to set the distance from the plane for the section.

When you're extruding an object from a sketch, you can set the Start point by changing the Profile Plane to Offset Plane. Another way to do this is to change the Direction from One Side to Two Sides and set the appropriate offsets.  Yet another way is to create an offset plane from the current sketch and project the items onto a sketch on the offset plane.  There are probably a few more ways as well 🙂

[markandcandyingle]

I cannot figure out how to do the extrude from the top like you did per your screenshots above.  It would be great if you could do a screencast

[markandcandyingle]

Never mind.....please ignore my last message.  I finally figured it out!  Yay!

Only now the corners are sticking above the top cover......is it possible to lower the top corners of the extruded square?

[markandcandyingle]

I think I am getting the terminology and concepts down now!  I fixed the corners by selecting "To Object" for the Extent setting.  The top shell should print nicely as one piece now!!!  Thank you so much for your help!

[xander.luciano · Accepted solution]

Awesome man! I'm glad you figured it out and got it working! 🙂

You'll be an expert in no time!

Best,
Xander Luciano

[markandcandyingle]

Thanks for helping get this far! F360 is a really powerful design tool!