Inventor: How to cut an .STL in half

[Anonymous]

Hello,

One of my students is creating a one inch box that is too big for my 3D printer.  We are going to try to cut the .stl file in half.  Can you help me figure this out for one of my students, please?

Attached is the file.

Thanks,
Michael

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@Anonymous,

marius.gildehaus has edited your subject line for clarity
Original: Cutting a 3d object in half

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[Cadmanto]

Why not create an assembly cut and adjust the cut for each half.  Then export out each half as an STL file.  This way I think would be easier instead of trying to cut in half an exported file.

How big is the cubic area of your printer?  Mine is 12" sq cube.

Windows 10 x64 -16GB Ram
Intel i7-6700 @ 3.41ghz
nVidia GTS 250 - 1 GB
Inventor Pro 2018

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply.  How do I make an assembly cut?

[Cadmanto]

In your assembly browser, RC on one one of the Origin planes (this is assuming you have one going down the center.  If not create one) and select 

Draw a box around the entire model and project in either of the directions.  Then to get the other side, edit the cut feature and change to the opposite direction of the cut.  Make sense?

Windows 10 x64 -16GB Ram
Intel i7-6700 @ 3.41ghz
nVidia GTS 250 - 1 GB
Inventor Pro 2018

[mcgyvr]

The 3d print environment in Inventor has the ability to split parts..

You also just need to open the ipt file.. Use an extrusion to cut away half of the part and save as stl.. Then delete that extrusion and repeat for the other half..

Simple

[schmidmi]

If you have the original Inventor part or assembly file, you can use the "Partition" command within the 3D Print environment:

https://help.autodesk.com/view/INVNTOR/2019/ENU/?guid=GUID-B24FC155-255C-481D-8BBE-BE7AD1753383

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Another option is to use Inventor Mesh Enabler. For this particular case, the mesh is relatively simple. You can use Mesh Enabler to convert the mesh to composite surface. The stitch it to a solid. You can manipulate the solid body however you like.

Mesh Enabler is a tool available only to subscriber. I am not sure if education license is entitled to it. You can try and see if you can download and install it.

https://apps.autodesk.com/INVNTOR/en/Detail/Index?id=6950391119076900441&appLang=en&os=Win64

Many thanks!

[marius.gildehaus · Accepted solution]

Hello @Anonymous!

Could any of the posts help you out?

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if a post or posts solves your issue or answers your question.

Thanks!