Combine solids into one model

[volitan71]

Downloaded a toggle clamp from Carr-Lane, it's all separate pieces I want to make it one solid, no history.

I'm missing something, cant seem to find how to do it. ANy ideas?

 

Thanks!

[TFarrell9]

Solids>Boolean>Add

Though if things aren't just right (overlaps, etc.), it won't work.

[#Rekd™]

One you get it to Boolean use Model Prep to delete the history. 

[volitan71]

Yeah I tried that, it says it would result in a disjointed body and failed.

There was only one piece that didn't change color though. I'll look into maybe it's no connected. 

Or maybe I can delete it and recreate it...

 

Thanks guys

[AMCNitro]

Put them all in one level, and when you need to move them turn off all the other levels.  Or make them all one color and use select all

[volitan71]

16 minutes ago, AMCNitro said:

Put them all in one level, and when you need to move them turn off all the other levels.  Or make them all one color and use select all

Did the level thing, thanks.

Did you know, you can select a bunch of entities, then go to the level manager and right click a level and click on "move selected entities" and theyll move to that level?

I did not know that. Found it by mistake the other day. I always used the "change level" command when you right click the screen.

[SuperHoneyBadger]

52 minutes ago, volitan71 said:

Did you know, you can select a bunch of entities, then go to the level manager and right click a level and click on "move selected entities" and theyll move to that level?

I never clicked it before, I assumed it would run a Move command on the whole level. Gonna use that one

[Aaron Eberhard]

And the related feature, right click on a level and choose "select all entities" to select everything on that level

[CEMENTHEAD]

Select them all, export as a .stl file and merge it back in.

[Jake L]

3 hours ago, volitan71 said:

Downloaded a toggle clamp from Carr-Lane, it's all separate pieces I want to make it one solid, no history.

I'm missing something, cant seem to find how to do it. ANy ideas?

 

Thanks!

Any chance you can upload a file of the toggle clamp? Seems like there's a few "workaround" suggestions here. I'm not saying they won't work, but I've also never seen boolean fail if it's setup correctly. And it seems like Boolean would be the easiest solution to your problem.

 

[Colin Gilchrist]

If you have solid pieces which are "adjacent but not intersecting" in some way, they will not boolean join together. The solution is to take one of the pieces, select it, and press "ALT + E" on the keyboard for "hide". Everything else will disappear temporarily. You can then use "Remove Solid History", to take away any history of that one piece, and then use the direct solid modeling functions to "Push-Pull" a face or feature on the solid, so it will get "just a little bigger" and actually intersect the other solid. Once the solid is modified, press "ALT + E" again, and everything will come back. If you did the push/pull right, so the solids properly intersect, you'll be able to complete your Boolean operation.

It also helps in the case of a clamp, if you can "de-feature" the models as much as possible, before importing copies of the solid. I'll use "Modify Solid Feature > Remove" to remove holes and other "internal" features from a model to simplify it, then run Remove History, save the file, and then try to use Boolean Add.

[Colin Gilchrist]

Remember that every feature in the model which is included (used or not used) is just computational overhead. The more simple your objects are, the faster your calculations. This is especially true for simulation. For simulation, you only care about the "Skin" of the objects that make up the machine. Everything else is a non-value add to the process when collision detection is concerned...

[volitan71]

1 hour ago, Jake L said:

Any chance you can upload a file of the toggle clamp? Seems like there's a few "workaround" suggestions here. I'm not saying they won't work, but I've also never seen boolean fail if it's setup correctly. And it seems like Boolean would be the easiest solution to your problem.

 

Sure

 

146114957-3-cl-250-vtc-clamped-nothread.zip

[Jake L]

31 minutes ago, volitan71 said:

Sure

 

146114957-3-cl-250-vtc-clamped-nothread.zip 287.72 kB · 0 downloads

Here's a dropbox link to a video showing how to use boolean to join all the clamp pieces together: Dropbox Link

The main issue was the cylindrical "rivets" going thru the clamp. The radius of the cylinder was .115" and the holes they were in were .124". So there was air between those solids, which caused boolean to fail. 

I used model prep > push-pull to increase the size of the cylinders to .130. (I also had to decrease the size of the hole in the center "bushing") Then I was able to run boolean and all the pieces connected into one.

Edit: just realized I forgot to show it at the end, but in the solids manager, you can right click the solid and click "remove solid history".

1 hour ago, Colin Gilchrist said:

It also helps in the case of a clamp, if you can "de-feature" the models as much as possible, before importing copies of the solid. I'll use "Modify Solid Feature > Remove" to remove holes and other "internal" features from a model to simplify it, then run Remove History, save the file, and then try to use Boolean Add

+1 to this as well. Simplify all "fixture" models as much as possible. 

 

[volitan71]

51 minutes ago, Jake L said:

Here's a dropbox link to a video showing how to use boolean to join all the clamp pieces together: Dropbox Link

The main issue was the cylindrical "rivets" going thru the clamp. The radius of the cylinder was .115" and the holes they were in were .124". So there was air between those solids, which caused boolean to fail. 

I used model prep > push-pull to increase the size of the cylinders to .130. (I also had to decrease the size of the hole in the center "bushing") Then I was able to run boolean and all the pieces connected into one.

Edit: just realized I forgot to show it at the end, but in the solids manager, you can right click the solid and click "remove solid history".

+1 to this as well. Simplify all "fixture" models as much as possible. 

 

Thanks very much for doing that!

[cruzila]

You can combine MESH into one unit regardless of connectivity. If it a clamp, shouldn't be an issue with what kind of entity it is.