Thicken/Offest Complex Surface Model

[kareemta]

Hello, I have a problem that is taking me for a loop. I am trying to create a membrane keyboard cover similar to the one in the pictures. The only file provided from the client was a very broken surface model. Using some less that robust techniques I was able to create a working model of the keyboard. I have the keyboard down to a surface model and would like to use Thicken/Offset to turn the surface into a solid model with the correct thickness. However, I keep getting an error using thicken, and I cannot figure out what or where the error is coming from.

I am also open to new ideas on how to create this. So far my other approach was to create a solid model of the keyboard, use combine to "stamp" it into a new solid, then use the shell tool to achieve the required thickness.

I am out of ideas and open to anything.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! I took a look at the part. Although the body checks Ok, there are a lot of problems actually. There are bad faces, sliver faces, and near tangent edges. I used Delete Face to remove and heal the geometry. Next reapply the fillets to be precise. Then I am able to offset it to 0.005 inch.

Also, the Extrusion and Combine are not needed here. You already have the faces. you simply need to delete the side faces to get the negative faces. Please take a look at attached part and let me know if you have any question.

Many thanks!

[kareemta]

Thanks for the help. I should have specified that I needed a thickness of .020 in. I ended up figuring out how to achieve this by first going though and cleaning up the surface as much as possible. Then going part by part to thicken going about 5 surfaces at a time. When I came across an area that didn't want to play I'd either try to fix the surface or model around the surfaces that would thicken. After a lot of cursing and frustration I was able to get what I needed. I included a picture of the final product.