Isolate a solid to export as .step file

[Anonymous]

Good afternoon folks. 

I'm not sure whether or not this is covered in a post with a similar title but I believe I have a separate issue due to the version of Inventor I am currently using. 

Due to having Inventor LT, when I want to recreate an assembly I have to use the 'New Solid' feature when extruding and just rename them all as the individual parts of an assembly. This way I don't have the full assembly features that come with the professional package but I can, however, turn the visibility of said parts on/off in order to work around an assembly. 

The issue I have is, having drawn up and extruded a whole set of solids into one file, I would now like to export just one of the "assembly parts". Is there a way to export just one of the, lets say, 20 new solids that I extruded to form an assembly of sorts? 

If you understand the problem and can help I'll send you a virtual beer over... It might be empty but the thoughts there... Sort of... 

Cheers! 

[mcgyvr]

I don't have LT to test it but I think you use the "Make Part" command (on the manage tab) to push just that solid into its own part file..

[johnsonshiue]

Hi James,

LT is strictly for modeling individual parts purpose. There is no assembly related workflow that I am aware of in LT. You could make solids invisible and export the visible solids. Simply go to Solid Body folder -> find the solid you want to keep -> right-click -> Hide Others. This will help you isolate the selected solid.

But, I don't understand how this will help you create an assembly in LT.

Many thanks!

[mcgyvr]

Johnson.. Lots of people make a "fake" assembly in LT using the multi-solids approach..

Sounds like thats what they have done and now just need to export one of those solids but even though visibility of the other solids is off when they export they get all the solids.. (Which is expected)..

Hence why I said make part to push that one solid to its own part file then export..

I was able to export a single solid by "suppressing" the other features that make up the other solids then exporting..

Not sure if LT has the ability to suppress (probably) so they can do that also..

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Brian,

He can suppress features but he can also make solid bodies invisible. But, he cannot push these solid bodies into an assembly unfortunately.

Many thanks!

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi Johnson and Brian,

I realize that it's only the LT version so, like Brian said, I have to create multiple solids to make an assembly out of what limited tools I currently have. 

What I ended up doing was right clicking each new solid and making sure the solids I didn't want weren't checked, then I turned the visibility off for the ones I didn't want, then I exported the whole model to a .step file and all I got was the solid I wanted. 

Thanks.