Converting IGS to Solid

[Herding Cats]

Anyone here good with solidworks? I was able to download a small block chevy block in IGS format but can't for the life of me figure out how to convert it so I can cut the solid.

My intentions is to use one solid as stock and edit a second one to chop up to lighten the block up.

If someone could talk me through it that would be great or I can email the file if it is easier for you to convert and send back in an editable solid form..


Thanks

 

[jz79]

last SW I worked with was 2012 and it was a while ago, I remember something about having to knit surfaces together, and there was an option to try and form solid when the part was mended enough

but can't you just open it up and make new planes/sketches where needed using existing non solid features of the IGS part and extrude necessary solids to feed to CAM?

 

[Herding Cats]

Yes I probably could, I was just hoping to have a solid that I could build from for the future.

Pretty much everything I make I model whether it be designing the part or reverse engineering an existing part. So I have very limited experience working with others models and different file formats.

 

[jz79]

how does the feature tree look like when you open up the file? lots of surfaces?

and I think SW was supposed to ask you to run a diagnostic on an imported part when it is "broken" with no solids upon importing it, during that diagnostic there was a possibility to try and form the solid, and a window where you enter a distance value - max distance between split surfaces that SW would then fill or pull them together to try and form the solid

edit: this vid shows what I remember doing:

 

[SD&M]

Anyone here good with solidworks? I was able to download a small block chevy block in IGS format but can't for the life of me figure out how to convert it so I can cut the solid.

My intentions is to use one solid as stock and edit a second one to chop up to lighten the block up.

If someone could talk me through it that would be great or I can email the file if it is easier for you to convert and send back in an editable solid form..


Thanks

Hi Herding Cats: I'd be happy to have a crack at this if you haven't got it sorted already. I figure between SWX and TopSolid there's got to be a way to do this.

Cheers, Brian

 

[Mhajicek]

Where's the file?

 

[lobust]

When you open the file in SW it will ask you if you want to run import diagnostics.

You need to do that and let it complete. There will be a single solid afterwards, even if it has faults.

 

[Mhajicek]

I believe there are also import options, and you can chose to import as surfaces or solids.

 

[Herding Cats]

When you open the file in SW it will ask you if you want to run import diagnostics.

You need to do that and let it complete. There will be a single solid afterwards, even if it has faults.

I click yes and then nothing happens. I'm going to let @SD&M have a quick go at it. If he can't easily figure it out I'll call SolidCAM and let them show me how to do it. I just paid for 2 years maintenance and support today so I might as well get my moneys worth

 

[SD&M]

Hi Paul:

I've just emailed you the translated files-let me know if this does the trick, OK? The files were quite large, so I have sent them as separate emails (they haven't bounced-yet). You will have a native SWX2021 file, as well as a few different Parasolid files that should read into SWX easily.

Hopefully there's something here that works for your purposes.

 

[SD&M]

Hi Paul:

I've just emailed you the translated files-let me know if this does the trick, OK? The files were quite large, so I have sent them as separate emails (they haven't bounced-yet). You will have a native SWX2021 file, as well as a few different Parasolid files that should read into SWX easily.

Hopefully there's something here that works for your purposes.

I forgot to mention that the IGES file originated from SWX2008 (according to the file header), so it has now made the "round trip." IGES is kinda a relic these days with stuff like STEP or Parasolid often giving better results for solid and surface data.

 

[Herding Cats]

So I feel like a bit of a dope but at the end of the day I don't claim to be good with CAD.

I redownloaded the file as a STEP and when it asked about import diagnostics I hadn't been clicking "attempt to heal"

Anyway feature recondition isn't working but I think that is cause I changed some setting when I was first trying to get it to work.

At this point it is a solid and not surfaces so I can easily cut extrude lots of areas for my lightening routine.

Thanks to everyone that helped especially SD&M

One if the things I'll be doing with the block is..... The rules say 25.5" from the balljoint to the back of the block where the bell housing is. Machining just under an inch off the back and then making up for it with stepped material in the aluminum mid plate will move the motor back almost an inch more than "stock" and be totally legal as it doesn't violate the rules.

 

[SD&M]

You're welcome-let us all know how it goes!

Did that STEP file work better for you?