Problem converting mesh into a workable file

[bretwhitcombe]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post as a new user to Fusion 360, and I could really use some advice!

I am working on an existing 3D printing project from a set of existing .stl files. I'm struggling to generate the face groups suitable for converting the mesh. I'm not experienced enough to redesign the entire piece, so need to modify what I have.

I have tried working through several tutorials, but these mostly assume that the task has gone to plan, and provide very little troubleshooting. Can anyone please help?

Many thanks,

Bret

[bretwhitcombe]

***Update*** - the attached file is to show what I am trying to modify for information, I'm not trying to get anything done for free.

[TheCADWhisperer]

---

@bretwhitcombe wrote:

I'm not experienced enough to redesign the entire piece, so need to modify what I have.

...I'm not trying to get anything done for free.

---

In my experience - it is easier to learn how to model the part using native tools than it is to learn to edit an imported mesh (especially with geometry as simple as this).

I recommend that you use this model as reference in recreating (and learning Fusion in the process) from scratch.

Ask questions after each and every sketch and feature that you complete.

Tip: Do not do the Fillets until after the entire part is created.

[HughesTooling · Accepted solution]

The problem you'll have is the fillets will stop the automatic selection of face groups working well, doesn't help that a tight tolerance was used to make the mesh. I made a screencast a while ago to show how to manually select faces and create face groups in direct edit mode. The first thing to do is enable history.

The screencast below shows the process on another model. This will take some time and would be far easier to start again and design from scratch. I'm sure some people here would help.

Mark

[bretwhitcombe]

Thanks Mark. I will have a look at that. It's very frustrating, I don't have any CAD experience at all and really struggling. I chose to use Fusion 360 as it seems the best by far, and I didn't want to learn something else and then end up changing later and starting from scratch. Once I've done a few designs I'm sure it will become second nature.

[HughesTooling · Accepted solution]

I let the accurate face group option run then made some small manual selections and got what looks like quite a good conversion. See attached file.

Mark

[bretwhitcombe]

Mark, you're an absolute legend, thank you. My PC won't run the accurate face group option for some reason, my Fusion 360 just hangs until I eventually have to kill the process. It's an i5 with 16GB RAM but I guess the GPU is letting me down.

Thank you so much.

[TheCADWhisperer · Accepted solution]

@bretwhitcombe 

See Attached file...

@bretwhitcombe 

I made a mistake on some of the Fillets, but because the model is parametric - it was easy to edit...

[bretwhitcombe]

Thank you, both of you have achieved in minutes what I've been attempting for a week! Very much appreciated and I shall continue on my journey. 🙂

[HughesTooling]

---

@bretwhitcombe wrote:

Mark, you're an absolute legend, thank you. My PC won't run the accurate face group option for some reason, my Fusion 360 just hangs until I eventually have to kill the process. It's an i5 with 16GB RAM but I guess the GPU is letting me down.

Thank you so much.

---

You just need to let it run, not sure how long it took on my PC but was at least 1/2 hour maybe more!

Mark