Hello,

I am a SolidWorks beginner and have read several other posts with similar problems, but am not sure where I'm getting stuck.  If anyone can point me in the right direction (and any best-practices suggestions will be graciously accepted!) I'd really appreciate it.

Problem:

3D print a fixture that will hold an off the shelf part in place during testing.  Essentially I want it to look like 1/2 of an injection mold, but without any of the internal geometry.

What I've already done:

• Downloaded manufacturer's STEP file of complete assembly
• Separated components to get just the top and bottom of the enclosure
• Tried Feature Recognition - got lots of errors so I proceeded without performing FR
• Deleted Face of a slot in the bottom enclosure
• Combine > Add to join top & bottom enclosure parts
• Deleted Faces the main through hole in the front of the enclosure - trying to make it water-tight
• Deleted Faces for some screw holes and embossing.  Figured I do not want to try to get this high resolution such that these features notch into the testing jig (plan to use the opposite side from where the embossing is anyway)
• Surface Knit the surfaces into a continuous surface
• The "Create solid" option is not present in the Surface Knit Property Manager, and when I try to use the Thicken command, I get odd surfaces extending out of the supposedly continuous knit surface

Is the through hole on the mounting bracket on the end (going to be used for mounting in the jig) causing issues?  I could delete those surfaces, turn into a solid and then cut a new hole after?

Or would I be better off just taking the bottom enclosure, slicing it with a plane along the mid-line of the completed part (the lower portion of the stepped parting line), and then trying to seal off just the bottom half of the enclosure?

Thanks for any help!