Post by 3dprintingmeathead on Apr 22, 2017 17:18:06 GMT
So, it's no secret to people who know me here I suck at CAD. For some reason, I started with designspark mechanical, and for the most part I've had no issues. I've been able to import models easily, convert STLs to solid, merge parts, and get done pretty much anything I've learned how to do.
Today, I tried to combine this and this(slightly modified. The why isn't important but I want to print them as 1 solid piece to save on aligning holes and the weight of the bolts. I started with right clicking, convert to solid, merge faces. Works great. Then made some simple mods to the carriage and that went without a hitch. Then I copied and pasted the component to the scene with the titan mount. All good. I had to rotate the model 180 and...froze. This has happened to me before a couple times, so I closed and tried again. This time it rotated fine. Then I tried to combine and...Failed to combine. That hasn't happened to me before. After a random and uneducated troubleshooting process, I came to the conclusion I could not merge these in DSM.
And this is where it really got frustrating. I installed fusion 360, and just as I feared, all the intuitive functions I knew and grew to love were now gone. The quick access icons were now hidden in drop down menus, and even the simple task of selecting a face is now somewhere I havn't found yet. But that's my problem.
My big problem is that I could not find any way to convert a mesh into a solid. A tutorial I watched shows a feature in the right click menu that no longer exists. And there seems to be no way to work with just the mesh to combine. So, sticking to what I know, I went back to DSM and converted everything to solid and exported OBJ. That loaded in fusion and shows solids. I went to combine the 2 pieces, and I cannot select either of them.
Then I remembered I had one last weapon in my arsenal. I fired up 3d builder, a standard feature in windows 10. I loaded both models, positioned them, hit combine(or merge, I think) and instantly, the carriage of my dreams became a reality. I exported stl, loaded in cura, checked for errors, and it's now ready to print.
So, time for an after action review: First, I gotta familiarize myself with fusion. It seems to handle processing a lot smoother than DSM. For editing stls, I should stick with DSM, because it just powers through them, as long as it's just a single model. And for combining multiple models, I should use 3d builder, because it handles this with ease.
Today, I tried to combine this and this(slightly modified. The why isn't important but I want to print them as 1 solid piece to save on aligning holes and the weight of the bolts. I started with right clicking, convert to solid, merge faces. Works great. Then made some simple mods to the carriage and that went without a hitch. Then I copied and pasted the component to the scene with the titan mount. All good. I had to rotate the model 180 and...froze. This has happened to me before a couple times, so I closed and tried again. This time it rotated fine. Then I tried to combine and...Failed to combine. That hasn't happened to me before. After a random and uneducated troubleshooting process, I came to the conclusion I could not merge these in DSM.
And this is where it really got frustrating. I installed fusion 360, and just as I feared, all the intuitive functions I knew and grew to love were now gone. The quick access icons were now hidden in drop down menus, and even the simple task of selecting a face is now somewhere I havn't found yet. But that's my problem.
My big problem is that I could not find any way to convert a mesh into a solid. A tutorial I watched shows a feature in the right click menu that no longer exists. And there seems to be no way to work with just the mesh to combine. So, sticking to what I know, I went back to DSM and converted everything to solid and exported OBJ. That loaded in fusion and shows solids. I went to combine the 2 pieces, and I cannot select either of them.
Then I remembered I had one last weapon in my arsenal. I fired up 3d builder, a standard feature in windows 10. I loaded both models, positioned them, hit combine(or merge, I think) and instantly, the carriage of my dreams became a reality. I exported stl, loaded in cura, checked for errors, and it's now ready to print.
So, time for an after action review: First, I gotta familiarize myself with fusion. It seems to handle processing a lot smoother than DSM. For editing stls, I should stick with DSM, because it just powers through them, as long as it's just a single model. And for combining multiple models, I should use 3d builder, because it handles this with ease.