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13-Aquamarine
September 10, 2013
Solved

NX -> Pro/E import / conversion?

  • September 10, 2013
  • 3 replies
  • 13215 views

Does anyone here have a working knowledge of NX?

I've been provided with some client models in NX format, but as I don't use NX I'm importing them into Pro/E to incorporate in a new assembly, and in some cases to modify - although for illustration rather than manufacture.

I've opened the assembly in NX, exported as STEP, and imported into Pro/E (WF4). In principle this has worked, but many of the more complex parts (cast gearbox casings) have failed to solidify, in one case with myriad tiny gaps, e.g. at the edges around drilled hole points. This is making them rather awkward to modify.

Does anyone know either a) a better way to do the conversion, or b) some settings I can change (probably in the NX export) to improve the STEP accuracy?

IDD isn't an option - I've tried on a couple of models and the Search tool fails to find any gaps; hunting them down manually would take hours, and finding the last ones would be almost impossible.

Thanks!


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Best answer by JonathanHodgson

Well, that turned out to have an easier fix: I slackened the Absolute Accuracy from our default of 0.01 (mm) to 0.05. Both the problem parts were suddenly able to be solidified.

Wish I'd tried that one sooner...

3 replies

15-Moonstone
September 10, 2013

Hi Jonathan

I am not sure, however if you have NX and Pro/E on the same PC, you can open NX geometry directly. (NX.prt)

You can try PTC Distributed Batch too.

Distributed_Batch.jpg

Regards

Radovan

13-Aquamarine
September 10, 2013

Thanks Radovan.

I have access to both, but they're network installs running from a licence manager - will that work?

15-Moonstone
September 10, 2013

I hope so.

At this time you must have special licence: check http://www.ptc.com/product/creo/interface-for-nx

Check this idea (NX in Creo 3.0)

http://communities.ptc.com/ideas/1477 (copy/paste this link)

1-Visitor
September 10, 2013

have you tried exporting the items as parasolid files (x_t)? i've had greater success with this than step.

15-Moonstone
September 10, 2013

Yes, all depends on export/import settings. Set Retrieve External Accuracy in import process.

13-Aquamarine
September 10, 2013

Hi Radovan,

Where do I set this? Normally I just open the STEP file and I get no further prompts.

JonathanHodgson13-AquamarineAuthorAnswer
13-Aquamarine
September 11, 2013

Well, that turned out to have an easier fix: I slackened the Absolute Accuracy from our default of 0.01 (mm) to 0.05. Both the problem parts were suddenly able to be solidified.

Wish I'd tried that one sooner...

17-Peridot
September 11, 2013

Since there are several places where accuracy is managed; exactly how and where did you set this?

13-Aquamarine
September 12, 2013

Working in the (already imported and saved as Pro/E) .prt file, Edit->Setup->Accuracy.

Since the import had picked up our start parts, it was already set to Absolute, and changing it from 0.01 to 0.05 fixed the two components I was particularly interested in.