Rhino to Solidworks question

It should be possible to combine the 4 solid bodies into 1.

However there could be no errors showing up after importing the IGES file, but there may well be errors in the geometry after the conversion or a problem with the geometry after combining the solid bodies into one.

It's hard to know what the problem is without seeing the actual file.

If you can get the tool guy to combine the bodies into one and then export the SolidWorks file into something Rhino can read, you will then be able to establish if the geometry has changed.

John Layne

John, This is an assembly with four components that do not need to be combined. My question is that if the 4 solid bodies imported good but without the history why can't he work on them? The assembly has a left side, a right side and two separate pivot pin components. The tool guy will be building mold halves for forging from the left and right side pieces. The parting line is flat, there is nothing bizarre beyond that. It seems that after adding draft and the minimum radius definition, splitting the halves would be all that is left. FWIW, I was requested to not include draft in the version I built. I insisted to include the draft but was told not to add it. The customer wanted the model to represent the finished tool. Machine stock was also omitted. The project is under NDA so I can't upload it here. Michael

Ok - a little confusion regarding terminology, in SolidWorks a part file can be made up of separate bodies. Hence I thought you had exported a single part that came into a SolidWorks part file as 4 separate bodies.

The SolidWorks files may well need to have a lot of time spent on them to make the geometry usable for toolmaking purposes, depending on the complexity of the part. Without a history tree the toolmaker could struggle to add radii and draft, the toolmaker may need to recreate the entire model within SolidWorks to make it editable. This is of course not impossible just time consuming.

Again- it is hard to understand what the problem is without seeing the files and since the NDA prevents disclousure it's going to remain that way. You could send me the files directly to my FTP site, I'm willing to sign a NDA if it helps.

John Layne

Its possible that the tool guy doesn't know how to work with multi-body parts or has a CAM package that can't do it. Once he figures out there are several ways to go from a multi-body part to several single body parts, I think he'll be alright.

I think there was a misunderstanding regarding Mulit-body parts Michael seems to have a 4 part assembly.

Michael Wrote. "This is an assembly with four components that do not need to be combined."

John Layne

If the fellow is creating tooling that should not be an issue working with dumb surfaces. Solidworks is built to create tooling from igs files etc.

If this is an organic part, there will be difficulty in applying draft after the fact. Perhaps your guy assumed that it was a prismatic solid (in which it is much easier to apply draft)

What process are you trying to apply? Fillets, shells. Fillets might fail if there are blending surfaces. What processes cannot be done. This would clear the problem somewhat.

(Actually the fact that your files arenot watertight usually doesnt matter to CAM programs. They can create tooling paths just fine from freefloating surfaces.