Solidworks Section View of Mesh Body Drawing

When creating 3D models for 3D press, we recommend taking the 3D press process into business relationship at all times. Smart modeling prevents 3D printing imperfections, weak areas, and minimizes the employ of back up material.

Some tips:

• Adding small fillets to internal corners makes the printed part much stronger.

• The minimum wall thickness for stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing is 0.6 mm, for selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D printers information technology is 0.8 mm, and a good minimum fused deposition modeling (FDM) wall thickness is three times the nozzle size, typically 3 x 0.4 = i.ii mm.

• Horizontal bridges or spans over 21 mm require support textile in SLA 3D printing. FDM 3D printers can normally reproduce effectually l mm bridges without supports.

• With SLA 3D printers, wires tin be very thin, up to 20 times the wire width. For example, with 0.iii mm thickness, you tin can impress upwardly to 7 mm tall before you start to see waving. 1.5 mm wires can get upwards to thirty mm tall without defects. Usable wires in SLS start at 1 mm bore and in FDM at 4 times the nozzle width.

• For embossed details, stick to a minimum of 0.4 mm depth for SLA and SLS, and 0.6 mm for FDM.

• For parts that are close together just require a slight separation, stick to a minimum of 0.5 mm clearance.

• Continue overhangs to a minimum or at least below a sure threshold angle for 3D press without supports. For SLA, the threshold is 19 degrees while for FDM, 45 degrees minimum needs to exist attained. SLS 3D printers crave no support material since the powder bed is self-supporting.

In our example, nosotros are modeling a custom yacht model while keeping 3D press restrictions in mind. This model entails some relevant features that need to be controlled to keep the model 3D printable, while offering advanced modeling challenges. One of these is the hull. Considering of inner compages requirements and hydrodynamics, a gunkhole hull needs to exist tightly controlled at several sections and is therefore created using a surface loft with multiple contour curves at different planes along the length of the ship.

Our example custom yacht model creating modeled in Solidworks.

To create the topmost curve of the hull, we use the Projected Curve characteristic under Insert  → Curve  → Projected and select the Sketch On Sketch method. This creates a 3-dimensional combination of ii different curves that are oriented on different planes. For the hull, an outline of the boat shape drawn from the meridian was projected onto an upwardly sloping bend drawn from the side.

Lofting enables creating smooth surfaces through multiple profile curves.

This lofting operation uses strictly defined curves at all sides plus contour curves. Using this many curves has to exist done advisedly because it will impact surface curvature. Another way to create surfaces is to create a loft between ii curves only. Keeping things simple often results in ameliorate quality surfaces, which in plow leads to more robust and high-quality models.

To control the lofting management, employ either one guide curve or Start/End Constraints which can exist set in the Loft card. When using a guide curve, the two profile curves are typically drawn on planes that are created perpendicular to the guide curve at its endpoints. When opting for Tangency or Curvature start and end constraints, use an extruded or ruled surface to define the lofting direction. Setting the start and cease Tangent Length then allows precise command. Using this method, intersections between different surfaces will exist less defined and accept to be created afterwards using trims or divide lines, but the reward is superior surface continuity.

A sweep performance is similar in role to a loft only uses ane profile bend. A boundary surface is even more than like to a loft with the deviation that it allows setting start/finish tangency in both directions. The reward is more control but at the toll of overall surface curvature.

Lofting Pro Tip #1: To evaluate surface quality, check Curvature Combs and/or Zebra Stripes under Curvature Display at the bottom of the surface operation menu.

Lofting Pro Tip #two: In the 3D viewport, right-click and choose Prove All Connectors. This allows the user more control over how different curves are connected, preventing undesired occurrences such equally torsions.

Lofting surfaces freely in space results in great surface continuity.

With the gross surfacing work completed, information technology is time to combine them together into volumes. In our yacht model, every side of both the hull and motel superstructure has been created as a split surface. Now when choosing Insert  → Surface  → Trim Surface, select the Mutual choice and choose the surfaces to be combined. Then SolidWorks allows creating the parts of every surface to maintain or delete, and automatically stitching the remaining parts together into 1 single surface body.

Trimming unlike lofted and swept surfaces together into a unmarried volume.

All major surfaces accept been created using lofting/sweeping then trimming operations.

Creating an edge at an angle or perpendicular to the original surface is a pop design feature. The Ruled Surface characteristic nether Insert  → Surface  → Ruled Surface allows that and offers the Tapered to Vector option. This allows picking a reference edge every bit the direction vector and specifying an angle at which the ruled surface will exist generated in relation to the reference vector. In the yacht model, both the edge providing thickness to the acme of the hull and the border moving downwards to connect with the deck were created using a ruled surface. An culling to the ruled surface is Radiate (Insert  → Surface  → Radiate). This creates an border perpendicular to the base surface following an edge or split line on that surface.

The Ruled Surface operation offers several options to create flanges.

Adding fillets to a 3D printable model is recommended because they make the part stronger and less decumbent to fissure forming. Additionally, they also catch the light and add together to the artful impression.

In that location are many ways to add fillets to a blueprint:

• Edge Fillet: Round

• Edge Fillet: Conic Rho

• Border Fillet: Conic Radius

• Edge Fillet: Curvature Continuous

• Variable Radius Fillet

• Face Fillet

• Full Round Fillet

• Agree Line Fillet / Alloy

A Round Fillet is the well-nigh basic, likewise computationally speaking. Over 5 mm in size it will result in a visible line on manufactured items as an optical effect where the surface meets the fillet—for 3D press the maximum radius is slightly higher because the surface roughness hides imperfect surface continuities.  The advantage of using Edge Fillets is that every fillet can be simultaneously applied to multiple edges, whereas other fillet types take to be individually created for every edge.

Conic Fillets accept become increasingly popular amongst CAD designers as the side by side best affair because they result in a smooth alloy while being computationally lightweight. The Conic Rho parameter hither allows setting the 'peakiness' of the fillet.

Curvature Continuous Fillets are the most computationally intensive but result in the highest quality.

A Variable Radius Fillet allows transitions in radius inside the same fillet. This comes in handy when the fillet ends in a tight cusp where a very low or nil radius fillet works and other types of fillets fail.

A Face up Fillet creates a rounding betwixt specified faces rather than edges–in some cases this results in a more robust fillet operation. Checking the option Constant Width sometimes creates better results.

The Full Round Fillet is a specific type of face up fillet that creates a full round rounding between 3 faces such as the crosscut side of a sparse solid. When modifying the geometry, the full circular fillet automatically scales along.

A Hold Line Fillet is a variation of the face fillet where not merely the radius is specified, but likewise the lines where the surfaces involved run into the fillet. This only works on solid bodies and the use of split lines typically results in successful hold line fillets. In instance the surface is difficult to catechumen to a solid outset for creating the agree line fillet, an alternative approach is cutting the surface open up with trim lines, and then blending the open sections together using a Loft operation and using Insert  → Surface  → Knit to combine all surfaces back into a unmarried surface trunk.

Apply Hold Line Fillets to create large blends betwixt surfaces.

The bow front was filleted with a surfacing feature to optimize curvature.

It is preferable for 3D printing to create thin-walled models, because these also define the inside of the model instead of leaving it up to slicer software to create infill and wall thicknesses. When modelers have attained a complete surface model, it is necessary to convert these into solid bodies. Ornamental details such equally fillets and embossing are added afterwards since these may impede the solidification process.

In that location are multiple workflows to go well-nigh converting surfaces to solids:

• Knit to Solid: When all surfaces connect to enclose a volume, cull Insert  → Surface  → Knit Surface, and then check Create Solid.

• Thicken: Cull Insert  → Boss/Base  → Thicken, check Create Solid from Enclosed Book to generate a closed solid body, uncheck it for a thin shell.

• Trim to Solid: When all mutually trimmed surfaces result in an enclosed volume, these can be immediately converted to a solid by ticking the box Create Solid.

• Offset: Create an offset surface that represents the inner wall with Insert  → Surface  → Offset. Then information technology is possible to connect the edges using the Loft command. At present, instead of selecting a single edge, select the entire edge purlieus loops past right-clicking on the container box in the menu under Profiles and choosing SelectionManager. Brand sure to have the start points of both edge loops at an adjacent position and y'all volition be able to loft the entire connection in i swoop. With the inner surface and connecting edges selected, they can now exist converted to a solid with a Knit to Solid procedure. An culling to lofting is creating a ruled surface at an angle so it intersects the inner surface, then using the Trim to Solid approach.

• Shell: Later on having created a solid from an enclosed surface volume, sparse walls can be accomplished with Insert  → Features  → Beat out. This starts an advanced script that creates a hollow solid part ready for 3D printing.

For our 3D printed yacht, the deck including the superstructure is printed as a separate part from the hull. This is a logical separation considering both parts have a flat surface that will largely impress without whatsoever back up textile. Where surfaces include only large fillets without pocket-size details, the Thicken performance works well.

Surface bodies are turned into sparse-walled solids with the Thicken control.

In several cases, designers and engineers want to create dissever solid bodies, for example when applying different wall thicknesses to dissimilar parts of the model. To merge solids with each other, SolidWorks offers Boolean operations under Insert  → Features  → Combine. To unify multiple parts into one, choose Add. Subtract volition cutting out one shape from the other, while Common leaves only the function where multiple bodies overlap.

In Assembly Mode, it is also possible to combine separate parts with the Join feature. First, create a new office with Insert  → Component  → New Part, then click Insert  → Features  → Join. This will unify selected parts within the assembly at their current position and orientation into one single body.

The best way to split up a solid torso into two sections is by using the Carve up command under Insert  → Features  → Split. First, create the cutting surface—it can have any shape and can even be a sketch. Then hitting Cut Function and decide in the Resulting Bodies panel which ones to go along. In case of requiring just one office to be retained, an alternative is the Cut with Surface command under Insert  → Cut  → With Surface.

Pro Tip: Relieve out an individual torso of the design as a separate SolidWorks .SLDPRT file with Insert  → Features  → Salve Bodies. To keep a reference to the original part so that the design volition exist automatically updated in sync with the original model, create a Derived Part by correct-clicking the body in the FeatureManager and select Insert into New Part.

A cutting surface divides the model into two dissever solids.

For parts of the model that are spaced apart, leave at to the lowest degree 0.5 mm clearance to ensure they do not fuse together during 3D printing. When 3D printing multiple parts that need to exist fitted together, such as the hull and deck in our project, it is important to adhere to proficient tolerancing practices. For a snug fit, leave 0.25 mm clearance for parts created with FDM, and 0.15 mm for SLS, and SLA.

Offsets are the go-to way for creating distances between related features. Too offsetting surfaces (Insert  → Surface  → Starting time) it is likewise possible to create a sketch as an commencement from an existing sketch or edge. To beginning a sketch, open a new sketch, select the original one, and click on Offset Entities. For offsetting only a part of the original sketch, or offsetting edges in the model, first import these to your sketch with Convert Entities. With the imported entities selected check Construction Geometry to signal that these are not the sketches to be used for the characteristic simply an in-betwixt step. Now select the parts to first and hit Offset Entities.

Utilize Offset features for creating clearances between different 3D printed parts.

Offsets are also practiced for negative clearances, that is when features need to overlap. Consider for example the example of adding ribs to the inner hull. Ribs are an accessible method to add strength to the part at specific locations. For any curved surface, we cannot but describe a bend on the surface and extrude it to create a rib, because it would not connect to the original surface in all places. To ensure a consistent overlap, we need to offset it into the solid body just plenty so the extrusion will overlap on all sides. An first bend tin exist created at a section plane to the original surface, then using the Intersect option under Insert  → Curve  → Split Line and selecting the section plane and surface. At present create a new sketch on the department plane and first the split line to create the kickoff curve. Finally, draw the entire feature and so information technology can be extruded.

A negative offset creates overlapping features that tin be merged into a single part.

SolidWorks provides aplenty opportunities for adding three-dimensional text features to a blueprint. Most font types will be readily convertible into SolidWorks, with a preference for Sans Serifs. Lettering can exist added to a sketch using Tools  → Sketch Entities  → Text. Text tin exist mapped to follow a curve, it can be mirrored, and individual letters can be rotated under a specified bending.

A specific method applies to mapping text onto curved surfaces: text wrapping. This repositions text drawn on a planar surface onto a curved, preferably cylindrical, one. In order to estimate the hull's shape, depict an arc sketch on the top plane best matching the curvature of the hull, then extrude the sketch. Create the text characteristic on a aeroplane or planar surface facing the curved extrusion. Now wrap it onto the cylindrical surface with Insert  → Features  → Wrap. The text is now scribed onto the surface and divides it into dissimilar faces. If nosotros delete the faces surrounding the messages likewise as the openings (known as 'eyes' in typography), only the letters remain. These will then be individually converted into a solid using the Thicken command and positioned onto the hull with Insert  → Features  → Move/Copy.

Now with an first of the hull surface and the Cut with Surface control equally mentioned in the section Working with Multiple Solids, the text tin can be cut so its outer surface exactly follows that of the hull. The reason why we did non option the more avant-garde Spline Surface wrap method is that using a cylindrical wrap maintains the horizontal orientation of the text where otherwise it would exist oriented downwards forth the hull's normal vectors. Notation that when wrapping directly onto a solid trunk, information technology is possible to immediately emboss or deboss the text into the solid.

Pro Tip: Use a maximum sideways protrusion of 1 mm for lettering for support-free 3D printing. The minimum legible detail for SLA 3D printing is 0.1 mm for embossing and 0.4 mm for engraving,  0.35 mm for SLS, and 0.6 mm for FDM.

The wrap office offers advanced ways of adding text to surfaces.

The preferred mode of creating grooves on a solid body is the Sweep operation under Insert  → Cut  → Sweep. Every sweep needs a guide curve and profile curve. A guide curve on a planar surface can be directly sketched onto that surface, but for a curved surface, we need to create a projected bend or split line. The option Circular Profile simply creates a tube along the guide curve. With the selection Solid Profile, information technology is possible to pick a solid trunk to generate the cut and emulate a CNC cutting tool. With a custom Sketch Profile, it is possible to install an additional twist value, so the end of the swept groove will be at a unlike specified angle than the showtime.

In our example, nosotros have swept a square over a sinusoidal split line on the boat hull. The square is positioned at a 45-degree angle relative to the guide curve in social club to enable printing without stark overhangs. For an verbal design, every split line volition have to be provided with its own sweep. For the minor cutting off elements at the border of the patterning surface area, information technology is acceptable in some cases to copy and interpret the nearest swept solid torso, and cut it with the curve that defined the original patterning area using the Cutting with Surface control.

Pro Tip: The sinusoidal curve was created by choosing Equation Driven Curve under splines in the sketch tab. This allows designers to input XY functions that direct generate a spline. For an advanced selection, it is possible in SolidWorks to prepare up a set of variables and drive these using Excel worksheets.

Use Equation Driven Curve for mathematically divers sketches.

Twisted sinusoidal sweeps making for a three-dimensional graphic surface area on the hull.

Designing patterns manually can exist a bit tedious. In SolidWorks, it could not be simpler creating a linear or rotational pattern of an object or feature with the Insert  → Pattern/Mirror  → Linear Pattern and Insert  → Pattern/Mirror  → Round Pattern commands. Information technology is also possible to provide a numerical linear translation or rotation when using the Insert  → Features  → Move/Re-create command and ticking the Copy box with the number of copies chosen.

If we project a curve onto a solid torso as a Split Line, we can pattern another solid body such as a window forth that curve, even maintaining the normal direction to correctly orient every instance on the curve. To practice that, cull Insert  → Blueprint/Mirror  → Bend-Driven Pattern and tick the radio box for the Tangent to Curve alignment method. If spacings need to be uneven, it is possible to define the locations using points in a separate sketch and opting for a Sketch-Driven Design under Insert  → Pattern/Mirror  → Sketch-Driven Pattern. Going beyond that, it is fifty-fifty possible to generate indicate locations within a sketch past linking a mathematics-driven Microsoft Excel canvas or from a text file containing the coordinates using the Insert  → Pattern/Mirror  → Table-Driven Pattern functioning. This blazon of parametric control enables designers to generate the geometrically complex and organic features that 3D printing excels at.

Curve-driven patterns work to create repeated elements on a complex shape.

Another nice feature is the Fill Pattern, accessible under Insert  → Pattern/Mirror  → Fill Blueprint. The showtime pace is to define an surface area to be filled with patterned elements. Next, cull a patterning layout and spacing dimensions. This is an automated way to create graphically interesting perforations for parts like speakers, air vents, and showerheads. Further customization is possible by selecting the Instances to Skip at the bottom of the Fill Design carte du jour.

Fill Design automatically generates graphically interesting perforations.

The Flex feature is an odd one out in SolidWorks because it is not driven by sketches, and yet, information technology results in workable geometry that cannot exist generated otherwise. Accessing information technology under Insert  → Features  → Flex enables the designer to bend, twist, taper, and stretch solid and surface bodies after they have been modeled. These features also stack upwardly successively for increasingly circuitous surfaces. Additional command on the center pivot location of the twist, taper, or bend can be accomplished using a control triad. This requires creating a Coordinate System reference get-go by clicking Insert  → Reference Geometry  → Coordinate Arrangement. The triad tin exist relocated past selecting an element to move information technology to in the 3D viewport, then hitting the correct mouse button on the heart of the triad, so Motion to Selection. Moving the Trim Planes then allows angle only a specific portion of the model.

Another post-surfacing operation is Freeform (Insert  → Features  → Freeform), where the designer tin add command points on department curves across a complex surface. These points, besides as the starting time and end curvature direction of the section curves, can then be individually modified allowing organic and unusual surface shapes to exist made.

Deform, under Insert  → Features  → Deform, will morph a shape from a reference point or surface, in a particular direction and with a specific elasticity (the Stiffness option). The Bend to Curve mode accurately transforms ane curve inside the part to a newly created curve so the part gains an entirely new shape. In Surface Push style, a separate surface is used as a stamp that virtually deforms the part by pressing into it.

Flex is a post-processing performance to bend, twist, and taper bodies like this propeller.

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Source: https://formlabs.com/blog/solidworks-tutorial-3d-printing-modeling-inspection/

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