solidify

[EJ_10822104]

Hello,

I would like to add thickness to an imported surface in creo to make it a solid model. I couldn't do it with the Thicken command because the shape is too complex and some surfaces can't be offset so I built the inner surface with less offset. I managed to merge a model with an internal thickness of closed surfaces, but the solidify command won't do it because the surface connection is not watertight. In the surface connection analysis, it shows red in a few places and the maximum gap is 0,035 mm. My question is, how can I set it to ignore these small errors and do the solidify command?

[remy · Accepted solution]

Can you confirm you went through this article https://www.ptc.com/en/support/article/CS204317 

[tbraxton]

@remy provides a good guide to manually dealing with this using IDD functionality. On complex geometries this can be very tedious and take a lot of time.

A couple of tips for this problem in general.

If the import is STEP, try opening it in SolidWorks and exporting as STEP. SW seems to be able to "fix" issues more often than Creo.

When possible, match the accuracy of your Creo model to that of the import data source before import. This will sometimes eliminate gaps.

If you have control over the source model, change the method of export to minimize the geometry to only what is needed in Creo 

If you will use IDD then watch this video before attempting. It shows a method for finding where the problems exist in the import data that is useful.

Creo Repair Imported Geometry tutorial: How to fill a gabs on a Surface models (youtube.com)

[aputman]

Remy's post is a good one.  When you find a good import profile that yields the least amount of repair work, be sure to save the profile.  You may find that if you work with the same customers over and over, one profile works best for one customer and another profile works best with that customer, mainly due to the software used for export.