I'm building a motor and transmission in basic volumes and I want to build a case around everything.
Is there a way to do this all at once, like a multi-body offset surface?
I'm trying to avoid having to offset each individual body then combining the offsets.
If I could get the bodies to combine into one body then I'd just use offset. My question is about shrouding multiple individual bodies at once. Like a "shrink wrap" or "drape" feature.
I don't think Indent works with multiple bodies. I'm not sure how intersect would work here?
If the bodies were close-enough together I could offset everything at once, the offsets would intersect and I could combine them. Unfortunately the bodies are not close enough together to do that without the offset distance / outer case being overly spacious.
I can't share anything unfortunately. Picture an electric motor with a bunch of gears and small boxes floating around it that all need to be encased, yet are not connected to each other.
The following method will get you the surfaces, if you save out the asm as a part:
Offset will not work because of the distance between bodies like I described above. The bodies are already in a part file.
Dave Mucci wrote:
Offset will not work because of the distance between bodies like I described above. The bodies are already in a part file.
Dave,
Check my video closer. By setting the offset to 0, you are copying the surfaces. I made a surface copy of the surfaces of the model in my video.
I'm not sure I follow how this solves the problem. Are you offsetting multiple bodies at once (at 0 distance) and creating a single body from them? They all appear to be touching which I believe is why this works. Explode everything out so that there's 2in+ between the parts and I don't think this will work.
Maybe you could use the Defeature tool to simplify to a single body
2019 SOLIDWORKS Help - Defeature
Then shell outward or offset to create your body off of that
Realistically though I would think you would want to take control over some of the shape of the housing yourself ?
This is already basic volumes. I'm doing multiple configurations of basic volumes and want to quickly shroud them and move on to the next configuration. I'm not at exterior appearances yet. This is basically package "sketching" in 3D.
The bodies are not close enough to form into a single body unless I'm missing something. Single bodies need to be one unit correct? You can't have two bodies that aren't touching combined into a single body?
This term "encased" you've used a couple of times. Is this for packaging or structural frame that would connect all the parts?
Just spit balling at the wall here, but what about this:
I've done that workflow in another CAD system but haven't tried it in SW yet, and not knowing the level of detail of the multiple bodies you have it's hard to guess all the ways the thin wall feature could fail.
It's a very basic volume that would represent a metal case shrouding a motor, transmission and other doo-dads.
I was hoping a tool exist that did this but it doesn't appear so.
I'm thinking the best result I can get will be from quickly running some geometry between the bodies so I can connect them as one solid body, then offset that ... kind of like a model car kit.
Dave Mucci wrote:
It's a very basic volume that would represent a metal case shrouding a motor, transmission and other doo-dads.
I was hoping a tool exist that did this but it doesn't appear so.
I'm thinking the best result I can get will be from quickly running some geometry between the bodies so I can connect them as one solid body, then offset that ... kind of like a model car kit.
There's 2020 SOLIDWORKS Help - Bounding Box. You could save the asm out as a part and get the "bounding box" for the asm. You can even access the dimensions with custom properties and list the dimensions in a BOM. I wish BB worked in asms, but it appears not to.
Also, while I don't think it solves your problem, there's also somewhat new functionality you may be interested in, 2019 SOLIDWORKS Help - Assembly Envelopes
It sounded like you wanted "shrink wrap" and that's why I made the suggestion above...Though to only get the outside surfaces, you may need to select hidden lines removed if there are internal surfaces (I'm sure there are):
Then you'd follow my video, and you may have to rotate the part to get all the surfaces copied.
Does saving an assembly as a part file, with option 'external faces'... get you the simplified surfaces you need?
Interesting question. Kinda like a "shrink wrap" feature, - has been requested in the past. I think Dave it depends on the particular form. If you can get all the bodies to combine into one body, the Indent feature might work for you. Otherwise, you can explore the Intersect Feature - but again depends on whether either can offset the geometries involve. Can you share anything?