Problem with manufacturer unable to open my highly complex IPT file, freezing

[Anonymous]

Hello.

Please if anyone can help with this it would be great.

I've designed this part which will be made using an investment casting method, and I have sent the part to the manufacturer.  They contacted me back saying they can only open the file, and if it opens it freezes up and their system shuts down..  They've tried on different computers including their workstation, and insist the problem is with the file and not them, as they're doing this kind of stuff for 20 years and never have issues.  Apparently they are using solidworks.  Could this be the problem?  This part is very complex and the file size is large, but still I have no problem opening it and orbiting it around on my dell precision m6800 laptop..  i74940mx 3.3ghz proccessor, 32gb of ram..  A strong laptop but surely nothing as good as what they use.  

The nature of this file's complexity is my desire to cover the surface with a honeycomb pattern.   Due to the uneven surface of the part, the honeycomb pattern would not attach using the emboss feature, so i referred to a youtube video with a "fix" to this problem..  Projecting the drawing using 3d sketch onto the surface, splitting the surface one honeycomb at at time, then thickening the new surface.  It was a terrible long complicated process.   Another question here I have is if there is any way to do this more simply?  I will be making parts like this a lot and need a better solution..  Please if anyone knows a better way do let me know.  For now I need to find a fix  to this part, but for the future I would love to be able to simply emboss this honeycomb feature without receiving errors.  Is there another way I don't know?  Any way of geometrically covering the part with it using an algorithm?  I am simply just not fully versed in the software, maybe there is something I am missing.

Here is the part.  Please let me know  what you think guys.  You'll save me a very large headache if you can solve both  problems I've stated.   Thank you

file is too large to upload here, please download it from my google drive link:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AROuUTyvvYDuUsiW3Xjg-2ezI6hZrq_n

[Mark.Lancaster]

@Anonymous 

I was able to open the file in Inventor 2020.   Yes it took some time so I'm not sure if your 3rd party vendor is waiting for it to load or saw the non-responding message and tried to get out of it.

[mdavis22569]

Opened for me ... rotating no real issues

Where are they getting the issues?

It is a very feature heavy IPT with all of the honeycombs

[Anonymous]

From what they have told me, they tried everything to open the part.  The farthest they would get is the part being loaded, but if they even would try to orbit then it would freeze up and crash.  They claim the issue is my part being modeled incorrectly..  Likely a result of this repeated splitting of the surface I needed to do to achieve my honeycomb pattern.  I don't have solidworks on this computer, If I did I'd try to open and check it myself.  I think this could be the problem, maybe solidworks simply wont accept a part with so many complications? 

[mdavis22569]

I would look at their PC spec's make sure it's meeting requirements

It took me about a minute - minute and a half to open. Longer to save then it was fine.

[Anonymous]

They claim to have tried on multiple computers including a workstation.  I guess I can check the specs but it seems that it might not be the issue.  I have a feeling the issue is related to opening it in solidworks.  Anyone have solidworks here they want to give it a try with?  here's the step file conversion.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cBh4hCC0xCj_xfuYjnuxsfubxZJsXNJL

they claim there's a problem with the way i modeled the part.  Could this be a real possibility?  I'm decent at this modeling for what I am doing, but it is new for me and still there's a lot I could be not understanding.

Also please guys, if anyone know's a better way of laying these honeycombs down on an uneven surface without splitting the surface individually for each on I'd love to know..  Many parts like this need to be made and I can't spend so many hours on each one.

Thanks guys

[Anonymous]

Anyone have a solution to my problems?  Please Help me if you can..  I'm very crunched for time and need a solution to this issue..  If anyone can attempt to load this into solidworks to check that would be amazing, this is what I am theorizing is the problem here.  Also, has anyone thought of a better solution to creating the honeycomb patterns as i originally talked about in my initial post?

Thanks

-Zander

[swalton]

It took about 6 minutes to open the stp file on my machine with Inventor 2019.   

Edited to add: The native Inventor part opened in 2-3 minutes on my machine.

Our practice is to send neutral files like .pdf, .DXF and .stp to outside vendors.  We think that it minimizes the chances for data import problems between CAD systems and it also makes it harder for the vendor to alter the geometry.  

I don't have a free seat of Solidworks for testing right now. 

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! I took a quick look at the part. This part is a beauty. I don't see any issue with the way you model it. The repeated Split features are needed to cut the face. The resultant geometry is two bodies and one surface. Nothing outrageous. The fact that SWX has trouble (I am a bit surprised) shows their graphics system is not optimized. When the part is opened in SWX, the modeling history is irrelevant. Only the body geometry matters. I don't see any issue in the geometry either. The bodies check clean.

A few things you could try. Suppress the honey cone structure and export it to STEP. Does it work better on your client's machines? If it does, it shows the issue is indeed related to the graphics system or SWX's ability to handle such geometry.

Another test to try is to shrink the part to 1/10 or 1/100. Derive it (scale to 1/10) or use Direct Edit -> Body -> Scale -> 0.1. Then export it STEP or Parasolid. Does it work better on their end?

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the kind words.  I will check their system abilities, and will see if the part opens without the honeycomb for them.  I will also try scaling the part down in size.  Thanks for the input.

Zander

[JDMather]

Hole wrong size.

Let me try it in SolidWorks now...

[Anonymous]

Any luck?

[JDMather]

I saved as STEP  and then opened in SolidWorks.

I want to try with Parasolid. 

I suspect there are issues with the model that are not your true Design Intent, trouble is this would not be an easy model to experiment with.

[Anonymous]

Were you not able to successfully open it as a step in solidworks?  What exactly do you mean by you think it could be issues that are not my true design intent?  Please do check for me, I am at a loss now, really not so sure what to do.  Thank you for your help.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Were you not able to successfully open it as a step in solidworks?  What exactly do you mean by you think it could be issues that are not my true design intent?  Please do check for me, I am at a loss now, really not so sure what to do.  Thank you for your help.

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I was gonna say, in these kinds of situations it is best to try a neutral format like STEP or IGES to reduce the memory overhead.

[Anonymous]

I sent them a step file also, no luck there..  Still trying to work out what to do at this point.  Curious if there is in fact some sort of issue with the model?..  Nobody seems to see it yet though

[Frederick_Law]

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they claim there's a problem with the way i modeled the part.  Could this be a real possibility?

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Solidworks cannot deal with ZTG - Zero thickness Geometry.

ie tangent edges.

For example a circle touching a line at tangent.  SW need that to be 2 solid bodies.

So you might need to split the model into multi-body for SW.

I'll try to open it in SW2019 SP3.

BTW which version SW your manufacturer is using?

[Anonymous]

thanks for this reply, maybe, hopefully you've found the problem!

i will check to see what version of solidworks they're using.

I will look into this idea of splitting the part into multi body..  I'll have to do a little research I guess.  If you have any suggestions, guidance, or links that can assist me with this I'd appreciate it.

Thank you 

Zander

[Anonymous]

Wow.  Thank you so much for that.  I will go through and attempt to fix the things mentioned.  You've also shown me it is possible to open in solidworks..  Meaning they must have some sort of issue on their end simply not even being able to open it.  Regardless I will fix these issues and send it over again.  To answer your one question on if it is modeled as a single quadrant, the answer is yes that's how I modeled it, then later added in the logo area.

Since you seem very knowledgeable about this, I have a question for you.  How would you go about laying down this honeycomb feature on an uneven surface like I have needed to.  Would you also end up splitting each section one by one?  

Thank you

Zander