Problem when exporting to STEP

[alex.p]

Hello, i'm trying to submit some files for laser cutting with the tube laser and the company requires STEP files which they later open with Solidworks and then send it to the laser in some other format. I have just received all my files back (with exception of one file) saying there are problems. One such problem is shown here. I see normal 4 wall square pipe in STEP that i have created, but when they open it in SolidWorks, they see a butchered version as displayed in the video (one wall transparent/missing). I'm also attaching .f3d file from which i convert to step. The way this .f3d file is created i copy a component (this tube) from the main file with multiple components and paste it into a blank document, then save. Any help on this would be much appreciated, i'm kind of lost on what to do next here. Perhaps someone could try and open it in Solidworks and see if that problem is repeatable, or if there are any other thoughts on this matter? Thanks

PS. I just tried to hit POST on this and this message came up so i'm attaching it zipped, strange. I have restarted Fusion, redid the routine with saving .step, still not letting me attach it. I can open it in Fusion without issues though. Here is the error when attaching it to post:

• The attachment's 1920mmpipe.step content type (application/octet-stream) does not match its file extension and has been removed.

[barry9UDQ6 · Accepted solution]

If I look in the timeline of your part, many of the features are highlighted in yellow. I have had this same problem when any problematic features like this will cause a step file to fail on export, even though it looks right.

I use FreeCad to open my exported step files to check them before sending off.

And just having a quick look at your timeline, there seems to be way too many features for such a simple part.

There is also no need to paste the part into a new file, you can just export 1 component out of a model as a step file by right clicking on the component in your browser.

[HughesTooling · Accepted solution]

You have a big problem with these holes in your model, this is the F3D part.

And your timeline is total chaos, don't think you've grasped how the timeline works at all. For example you shelled this part to 1.5mm then offset each face 0.5mm. You should just edit the shell feature if you want to change the wall section. With all the warnings hard to find out where you've gone wrong. You really need to do some training, if all your designs are like this I can see why you exports are a problem.

[alex.p]

Thanks a lot Barry,

at least now i know the problem is my sloppy design skills, so i'll start rebuilding everything from scratch. When you check your files with FreeCad, do you just check if they open, or you look at the part for any inconsistencies? I have opened this STEP file in FreeCad successfully, but i do see problems on the surface of the part.

[alex.p]

Thank you for the tips, i know my design practices are not the best, mildly speaking, its a hobby, not a profession and i started learning it while building something, for the purpose of building it, which to date grew to more than couple of hundred components. Looks like i'll have to redesign most of them now ) I have understanding of what timeline is, and sometimes i use it, but i guess i wasn't using it correctly in most of the cases creating new operations while i should have been editing existing ones, duly noted. 

[HughesTooling]

@alex.p  If you're going to rebuild this come to the forum at each step and ask for advice because you have a lot to lean. Not sure how this file was created, did you copy the component in from another design? The error with the cut\paste at the start of the timeline is a bit confusing.

Before you start redoing you should read the Rule #1 post. The 3 bodies in this design should be 3 components located with joint not just positioned haphazardly. Do you know for example the 2 face are not parallel? The angles between the parts is part of the problem with the holes I show in my last post.

[alex.p]

Thanks, i'm sure i'll have questions. I knew there is an angle there by the way, because of the way parts were rotated (on 2 axes and mirrored) i could only join them together with a piece of pipe at a small angle. It is not an ideal design, i know, but my goal is no weld simple design, so i was planning to use 3d printed spacers in places like that when needed where there is no proper alignment possible. This is not a load carrying construction, at least this part isn't, so i allowed for such inconsistencies for now. Whether that was a wise thing to do - that remains to be seen if i'll ever manage to cut them.

[alex.p]

Sorry, missed the question about how that component came to be. I definitely didn't paste it from another design, it might have been pasted and not mirrored from a symmetric component on the other side (which was probably extruded from sketch), but i'm struggling to remember exactly how it came to be, i've been modifying this file for more than a year now. Thanks for the RULE tip, i'll try to understand it properly.