I have an .stp file that I imported. Many surfaces Zero parts - This prevents making drawings, no?

Paul_99

I managed to delete some surfaces (Ones I wanted to delete even!) and they became parts once they were deleted - interesting I thought. But in the lower left listing I have a bunch of surfaces and 0 parts and Parts seem to be required in order to make drawings - which is my current goal.

Paul_99

So how do I tell a bunch of surfaces to become a part?

nav

OS does note recognise surfaces for either drawings or assemblies, if you want a surface to become a "Part" use the thicken command and then boolean operations is that is the case.

Paul_99

Interesting.... I'll give that a go.

andrew_troup

If you strike problems, there are some previous threads on this forum on the topic, which might throw some light on the process and the limitations.
For some cases, "Extrude/up to surface" might be a better bet.

Paul_99

I did get one shape to thicken but others would not... the thickened on did allow for a drawing so I am on my way at least in part...
Extrude UP to surface is next on my experimental voyage.

Paul_99

Extrude up to surface is releasing my selected surface when I try to use it. And will not let me re-pick that surface for extruding.... Would it prefer not to extrude or thicken an already 3d curved shape? (I kind of get how determining the axis on which to grow would be weird.)

Paul_99

I can get "other" surfaces to extrude and to thicken.... Just not these.

andrew_troup

You need to isolate the problem areas on the problem surfaces (generally where the radius of curvature is less than the thickening amount - which should be as thin as possible)

You can extrude a trimming surface at approximately right angles through the problem area to trim it away (using "Split") 
At least, I think this is currently possible.

But first just try reducing the thickness to a really small value and see if this works.

The other problem you might strike is "Zero Thickness Geometry" which can arise where you thicken two adjacent surfaces which are not strictly tangent to each other.  If this is happening, you need to arrange things so that the surfaces in question create separate parts. ZTG is not permissible in a single part.

Paul_99

Thanks for keeping after me Andrew_Troup... I'll try bumping the thickness waaay down and report back.

Paul_99

OH this is agonizing... thickening by .005mm in the Out direction (away from the convex side of the shape works on SOME of the surfaces and not on others.. Even the seeming mirror images of some shapes will not work the same.

Paul_99

OK... I zoomed waayyyy in and saw that some surfaces have exact ajacency and those work. subtile overlap anywhere and BANG! NO thickening for you!
I'm off to learn how to snuggle surfaces edgewise.