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EBEric Brown16/10/2008
Hi folks,
I have a solid part model that many people have worked on for a long time. It has lots of features and in getting ready to finish-it-off we needed to look for voids or hollow spots that may be lurking inside it. I know that may sound weird, but some of the cuts were made using offsets to surfaces, etc. I already found one void and 'filled it in' before doing what I will describe here. Rolling back and then step-by-step rolling forward did not readily show all the voids. Also, there was enough geometry kicking around that staring at wireframe or even HLV was more of a headache than effective. It is likely the case that skillful remodeling could eliminate most if not all of the holes. But we are where we are now!
I'll tell you what I did to find the voids. I am posting to see if I missed an easier way to do it for the next time this might happen.
That's it. I was wondering if there is a way to get a solid envelope based on a solid body automatically. I looked into creating an envelope in assembly mode, but it didn't look like it would get me where I needed to be.
Thanks and best!
Eric
I have a solid part model that many people have worked on for a long time. It has lots of features and in getting ready to finish-it-off we needed to look for voids or hollow spots that may be lurking inside it. I know that may sound weird, but some of the cuts were made using offsets to surfaces, etc. I already found one void and 'filled it in' before doing what I will describe here. Rolling back and then step-by-step rolling forward did not readily show all the voids. Also, there was enough geometry kicking around that staring at wireframe or even HLV was more of a headache than effective. It is likely the case that skillful remodeling could eliminate most if not all of the holes. But we are where we are now!
I'll tell you what I did to find the voids. I am posting to see if I missed an easier way to do it for the next time this might happen.
I started with the solid model tree
as it was built and saved it just in case. The model has only one
solid body (not disjoint) and no surfaces at this point.
I used "Insert -> Surface -> Offset" with an offset of 0. I used "Filter Faces" and selected every single outer face there was on the model. I clicked OK and then I had the original solid body and a surface body.
I used "Insert -> Boss/Base -> Thicken" and selected the surface body I created in the step above. I checked the "Create solid from enclosed volume". I unchecked the "Merge result" option. I now had two solid bodies (the original and the new one from this thicken step).
I used "Insert -> Features -> Combine" and chose "Subtract" for the operation type. For the Main Body I chose the newer body resulting from the thicken operation. For the "Bodies to Combine" I chose the original model solid body. I clicked OK and then all I saw was a couple of small chunks where the voids had been in the model.
I went back using Roll Back and could then fix the hollow openings with changes to the extrudes or plugs as needed.
I used "Insert -> Surface -> Offset" with an offset of 0. I used "Filter Faces" and selected every single outer face there was on the model. I clicked OK and then I had the original solid body and a surface body.
I used "Insert -> Boss/Base -> Thicken" and selected the surface body I created in the step above. I checked the "Create solid from enclosed volume". I unchecked the "Merge result" option. I now had two solid bodies (the original and the new one from this thicken step).
I used "Insert -> Features -> Combine" and chose "Subtract" for the operation type. For the Main Body I chose the newer body resulting from the thicken operation. For the "Bodies to Combine" I chose the original model solid body. I clicked OK and then all I saw was a couple of small chunks where the voids had been in the model.
I went back using Roll Back and could then fix the hollow openings with changes to the extrudes or plugs as needed.
That's it. I was wondering if there is a way to get a solid envelope based on a solid body automatically. I looked into creating an envelope in assembly mode, but it didn't look like it would get me where I needed to be.
Thanks and best!
Eric