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SolidWorks & OpenSCAD interoperability

neri-engineering

Wed, Nov 16, 2022 1:30 AM

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 secure email.

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.