I can't find anything wrong with that STL with either NetFabb or OpenSCAD, so I don't understand how they can do more with an STL from FreeCAD. As far as I know there are only ASCII and binary STLs and they contain the same information. I don't think there is any way to embed any more information. It might be worth checking if it is a binary / ASCII issue but it seems very unlikely if they can open it. On Wed, 16 Nov 2022 at 01:31, neri-engineering via Discuss < discuss@lists.openscad.org> wrote: > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: neri-engineering <neri-engineering@protonmail.com> > To: OpenSCAD general discussion Mailing-list <discuss@lists.openscad.org> > Cc: > Bcc: > Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2022 01:30:41 +0000 > Subject: [OpenSCAD] SolidWorks & OpenSCAD interoperability > Sorry if this has been asked many times before; I'm sure it has. > Today was a first; I visited a job shop (machine shop) that has very > advanced CAM / CNC tools. They use SolidWorks software. > > I came there with my dinky STL files. Not even the simplest STL file that > I brought them was workable in SolidWorks. Yes they could open it and see > it, but nothing besides that. They could not measure the part along > different faces, they could not do CAM with it, etc. It's expected. > Especially if the STL is nothing but a set of 2D triangular faces in > 3-space which make up a 2-manifold. For reference I attach the simplest > STL file that they were not able to do anything with (besides visualize in > SolidWorks), named 'green-shaft-join-pin.stl'. > > I have been pursuing information in how to prevent the necessary > re-construction of my parts in SolidWorks. I found something like this: > > ====================================== > Got it to work perfectly and with minimal effort. > >Export as CSG from OpenSCAD > >open CSG in FreeCAD > >Save as STEP File > >Open STEP in Solidworks and save as Solidworks Part. > > Can now be edited and used in solidworks Assemblies > ====================================== > > (Found here: https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,220486) > > I will need to do something similar. Was wondering the best approach. Is > the above a suggested method? In particular they need to do Computer Aided > Manufacturing with my part. Also they need to make engineering drawings of > my part, which is super easy with SolidWorks. My parts have threads, which > I generated myself with polyhedron(). But I can remove those for > simplicity. > > I was not anticipating this snafu. I will not abandon OpenSCAD because I > really like the way you can program a part and not point & click. > > Maybe if I raised the segment count on my part it would help SolidWorks? > Just wondering. > > The guys at the machine shop made mention that they've been able to open > STL files from other software (e.g. FreeCAD), in SolidWorks. Now I doubt > what they said to be True. Inherently the STL does not have sufficient > information to do CAM, without heuristics and guesswork (which may be built > into SolidWorks, or not). I don't have SolidWorks at my disposal so I have > to make intelligent guesses and give them revised files, asking them "How > does that work? Better?" So I need to take the most intelligent course of > action. > > Respectfully, > Nerius > Sent with Proton Mail <https://proton.me/> secure email. > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: neri-engineering via Discuss <discuss@lists.openscad.org> > To: OpenSCAD general discussion Mailing-list <discuss@lists.openscad.org> > Cc: neri-engineering <neri-engineering@protonmail.com> > Bcc: > Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2022 01:30:41 +0000 > Subject: [OpenSCAD] SolidWorks & OpenSCAD interoperability > _______________________________________________ > OpenSCAD mailing list > To unsubscribe send an email to discuss-leave@lists.openscad.org >