I cannot get ANY of the features of an imported dxf to select for extrusion

victor_olive

I have imported a dxf and can only select elements rather than enclosed spaces - why?

matthew_stacy

@victor_olive, it is extremely likely that the profile is not fully enclosed.  Somewhere there is a gap between adjacent line or curve elements.

The trick is to find and correct those discontinuities so that you can apply sketch constraints to eliminate them.

If you make your document PUBLIC and share the URL someone in this esteemed community will surely detail the solution to your dilemma. 

bruce_williams

@victor_olive

Welcome to the forum.  @matthew_stacy is correct.  Besides sharing here is a way to narrow the search quickly - called 'binary search' by the gurus.  See the thread here.

victor_olive

Hi everyone. I have checked the enclosed spaces are correct in the dxf but they will not select. Only the edges will select. To verify this I added a rectangular box with the onshape sketch tools in the same sketch containing the dxf and this new box (which was produced by the onshape tools and is definitely fully enclosed will not select either as it is acting in the same way as the dxf.

victor_olive

I have imported the same dxf into Solid Edge CAD and every face is selectable for extrusion no problem.

victor_olive

The part is called "transporter" the URL for this is: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/b2a50f968d07db087ed4fc88/w/ef6f493e2651b13e08355e23/e/1b188d067438f77361eb43df

bruce_williams

Your sketch has too much going on and is corrupt in Onshape.  I suggest you copy paste smaller portions to new sketches.  I grabbed one area and it had enclosed spaces.  Then also only design one of each part and use assembly to make multiples and mate in position.  This is best practice and will save you a lot of time; then you can also get motion and other assembly advantages.

Here is screen shot of what I cut/pasted to a new sketch and it will work fine.

NeilCooke

victor_olive said:

Hi everyone. I have checked the enclosed spaces are correct in the dxf but they will not select. Only the edges will select. To verify this I added a rectangular box with the onshape sketch tools in the same sketch containing the dxf and this new box (which was produced by the onshape tools and is definitely fully enclosed will not select either as it is acting in the same way as the dxf.

The fact that you can select edges sounds like you have Surface selected in the extrude dialog?

EternalPath

I am having the same problem. Looks like Onshape has a maximum number of sketch entities limitation. When it is exceeded it becomes unable to detect closed areas for solid extrusion.In my example I exported a dxf from an onshape drawing and imported it into a sketch to create a 2D projection of a 3D object. Closed areas in the imported dxf cannot be selected for extrusion.

But when I apply the "Use (Project/Convert)" tool to only a few edges from the original imported dxf to pull them into a new sketch, then I can extrude them which proves they are closed areas.

However, when I apply the "Use (Project/Convert)" tool to the entire imported dxf to pull it into a new sketch the closed areas remain unselectable.