Hi, I made a box made of three layers in three separate part files. I then combined them together to form a new assembly. I saved the assembly as one SW assembly file. However, when I saved the assembly as a STL file for 3D printing, SW created three separate STL files which correspond to the three part files. Could you please let me know why SW did not save the entire assembly as one STL file and how I can make SW to save the entire assembly as one STL file for 3D printing? Thanks
Thanks. There is something strange. I saved the assembly as a part. Then, saved as stl. Again, SW created three separate stl for each part. Then, it seems that if I quitted, loaded the now-part file, did not choose to recognize the features and saved, then I got one stl file for the entire assembly. What could be the mistakes I made?
Hello,
In the Save As dialog, after STL is selected, click Options.
There, check "Save all components of an assembly in a single file (assemblies only)".
Or go to System Options>Export, select STL in the dropdown and change this there.
Kevin
Someone already answered this correctly (save options as a single file) but I will put my two cents in. Many times I will create multiple configurations of my 3D printed assemblies so I have one configuration with all the parts in the correct orientation and nested. This allows me to suppress parts that shouldn't be printed. Since the assembly is linked to the parts as you make design changes, the STL doesn't automatically stay up to date but all you have to do to is save the assembly in the "PRINTED" configuration. It can save a lot of time if your printed configuration uses dimensions to "nest" the distance between parts.
Save assembly as a part , than save as stl