Importing external parts into Cubex

[Peter Gregory]

I'm looking for tools that can convert common CAD files into files Cubex Invent can import.
Invent currently supports importing STEP, IGES, SAT and Solidworks files.
Has anyone seen utilities that can convert any of the following:

DXF, STL, 2D GCODE, 3D GCODE

Into a format Invent can import?

[Paul Wells]

(Background info;  STEP, IGES,SAT,STL are know as "Interchange" files, or universal 3D files, whereas the Medium Level 3D Parametric CAD programs all have their own proprietary file formats for Parts, assemblies and so on.  )

If you want to get heavy-duty into CAD, I can make suggestions on the medium-level 3D Parametric CAD platforms; (AutoDesk Inventor, SolidWorks, Pro-E, etc. ) As I use them all at my day job. Although they typically run $4 to $5K per user and $1,500 maintenance / year.

There is a "Lite" version of Inventor a little over 1K that comes bundled with a few other programs. It may be able to do some conversions, not sure.

I can't speak to "converter programs" If you google "3d cad converter" you get tons of results. Some of which are online services. There are many many options when configuring these types of surface & solid exchange models, (level of detail, etc).

 I found it odd that CUBIFY INVENT wants a STEP,IGES, SAT, or SOLIDWORKS-Part, but NOT an STL ??? HUH?? 

Cubify INVENT can Export an STL, but not Import it. 

The CUBEX software (CAM package) wants STL ONLY to import.  

This non-operability makes it a pain for me, but nearly impossible for some of you guys. 

You guys could speak up to 3DSystems and get them to make some changes to Cubify Invent.

[Peter Gregory]

The reading I've done suggests that converting from STL into surface CAD is very difficult.
All those thousands of little triangles turn into surfaces for the CAD program.
On the other side, the Cubex printer deals with the model as a whole
It just keeps up with a shell. Much easier.

I tried some demo software and imported a STEP model into Invent.
It looks a lot like a STL model - lots of faces all over it.
So Invent treats the imported object as a shell. It doesn't attempt to consolidate the faces or generate 2D drawings for the faces.

To qualify my search parameters, I'm looking for an affordable conversion application.
Hopefully much less than $100.

[CubeX 3D Printman]

Yes, I wish too the Cubify Invent software would import .stl files. Would make things easier. I asked them two month ago if they could add that.

Maybe if more people request that?

 

Rick

[Peter Gregory]

I found a nifty little program that can do the conversion from STL to STEP - one of the formats supported by Cubex

InStep v2.1
www.solveering.com/instep.html
It has different levels of licensing from free and useless, $20 and useful to $150 and unlocked.

[Peter Gregory]

I'm trying the $20 version.

It successfully converts STL to STEP.

I import it into Invent, but the STEP version has so many faces Invent can't handle it.

As soon as you try to do anything with the imported part, Invent runs out of memory and explodes.

I'm opening a support issue and see if there's anything I can do.

[amf]

You know what?  I'd say buy SolidWorks.  Yes, it costs as much as a CubeX, but it's a great program.  It's actually fun (I think!).  I'm an EE, and I wish EE CAD programs and tech support were that good.  I think it's one of the most powerful, best pieces of software I've ever used.  Tech support answers within two hours and won't close your case until they've answered your question and solved your problem.  They have free night schools in local areas, and then also post those online.  Start your own company and write off the cost of both the CubeX and SolidWorks as a business expense.  It's still  not free, and it's not cheap, but you won't have to mess around with converters, and having cool software seems apropos if you've bought your own 3D printer :-)

(I have no connection to SolidWorks, just lots of experience with archaic board layout tools.)

Just my two cents, I enjoy messing around with SolidWorks and the CubeX. 

(Besides, what are credit cards for?)

[Peter Gregory]

You make a good point.
I'm trying to cobble together a system using a $50 CAD package that is powerful enough to do everything a $4000 dollar package does.
Do you know anything about the student editions? It costs about $150 per year for the premium version.
Does it generate STL that the Cubex likes?
The gearotic package I bought generates STL that seems to have open edges - it fills in the center holes of the gears when printed.

[amf]

I'm not sure, but I think it must.  All the students seem to have 3D printers these days.  You could ask them.

BTW, when I bought my CubeX from Source Graphics, the guy there suggested SpaceClaim, as an inexpensive but very good software package for 3D design.  He said that a few of the original SolidWorks designers spun out their own company to create a product that was simpler to use than SolidWorks, but "just as good".  I actually purchased a copy ($50) for the rest of the folks in my group, but I haven't used it myself nor have they, but it might be worth looking into.  My brain is full of too many CAD tools to play with another one.  The guy is very knowledgeable.  His name is Brent Pedersen.  You might give him a call and chat with him about software options.  He was very helpful.  He's used all these various CAD tools and has been selling 3D printers for a few years, I think.

[Paul Wells]

Inventor LT does all the IMPORT/EXPORT you could ever want; It's a $1K program as opposed to the $5K full blown version. 

What do you get for $4K more?  -Nothing that a high-level hobbyist would miss.

( The only thing missing a small designer would really miss is the Sheetmetal tools (they are Awesome, I work a lot in sheetmetal everyday) and perhaps the BOM generation.

When they say no "Large assembly Design" they mean huge, as in 10's of thousands of parts. Then there is "Rules based Design" which is using a little bit of code to drive parameters. If you are a coder, doing a family of parts/assemblies, you would want to step up to the big package eventually.)

Click the orange Part Video link, here to learn about File type import/export

http://www.autodesk.com/products/inventor-lt-family/overview

I use both Inventor and Solidworks daily. Solidworks is shutting down development in light of the parent company Dassault Systems pushing out a new Catia Light soon. So, it's not recommended you go there.

I would recommend you try Inventor, and look into Inventor LT aka "light" 

http://www.autodesk.com/products/inventor-lt-family/overview

FREEE STUFF!!

http://www.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-inventor-family/free-trial

Compare full blown Autodesk Inventor vs Autodesk Inventor LT; 

http://www.autodesk.com/products/inventor-lt-family/compare/compare-products

Stay away from AutoCAD, nothing to see there, it was dead 10 years ago.

Catia, Pro-E and Siemens go above Inventor and Solidworks for people designing spaceships, aircraft, etc. Nothing to see there.

Alibre was a small 3D Parametric CAD company that started up oh, about 10 years ago. Looks like they have been bought by 3DSYSTEMS.

http://www.alibre.com/    Alibre was free when it started up, and thats about how good it was. Then it quickly evolved and was priced around $500 and so on.

Hmmmm The menu bar looks curiously like Cubify Invent!  https://www.alibre.com/products/hobby/

Now at $1K to 2K, I'd stick with AutoDesk Inventor / LT. Big Company, Good Support, 

Good to grow with Inventor, because now, when you spend $5K on full blown inventor, the GIVE you $15K more in a "Suite" of software. Things like Maya (Surface etc), Mudbox (Sculpting) , 3DS Max (CGI Animation), SketchBook (Free Drawing), Showcase (Photo-realistic Rendering and Movies) and more - all with native Interoperability because AUTODESK - meaning, build a model / assembly, and open it easily in all those programs. (!!!!!!!) Try that 3 years ago. No way.  This is great for a small company developing products and generating their own marketing material. I'm building 3 companies right now....

[CubeX 3D Printman]

One thing the Cubify Invent software does very nice, is that you can cut / modify.stl surface models. For example creating a plane and cutting the model to create a new flat surface or cutting a part to split it in two etc..

In SolidWorks you can't cut or manipulate a .stl surface model. Only if you can make it into a solid which rarely works or takes very long to fix all surface/gap issues.

So I open the .stl file in SolidWorks and save it as a SolidWorks part. Then import the SolidWorks part file into Cubify invent and do the modifications there.

Wish Cubify invent would import .stl directly.

 

Otherwise I love SolidWorks, it's awesome. Have used it for over 15 years.

 

Rick

[Peter Gregory]

I'm checking out the new SketchUp Make.

It has a pro license for $590 and a free license for hobbyists.

I'm trying the free license.

It's a different animal from Invent.  I exported a quick gear I created from a 2D dxf and imported the STL into the Cubex printer.

The STL looked OK but the build seemed to generate artifacts in places, I'll continue testing.

I think one of my problems using Invent is I'm running it under VMWare Fusion Windows XP (I'm on a mac and I have an old license for XP).

That limits my total memory to 2gb even though I have 16gb to play with.

2gb is not very much memory when dealing with lots of faces.

I'm going to try again with Windows 7 64 bit and see if I get better results.

[ch...@agilixideaworks.com]

Seriously, check out FormZ or Bonsai3d-- both from Autodessys. Both are solid modelers and much easier to use than anything else I've seen. SketchUp is a surface modeler, and as such really difficult.

I use FormZ and it does a great job creating automaed nuts and bolts along with lots more.

[Paul Wells]

Ya, sketchup is typical google. Break the mold and start with a fresh concept. But i think it is a very bad one for a maker/inventor type person.
Especially if they still haven't added a history tree!

Sketchup is a good tool for carpenters to "sketch" out some things. Its just Not a digital prototyping modeling program.

[J.Andre.]

all of these programs are good.

.

I'll throw my program of choice into the mix.

i use Rhino3D (www.rhino3d.com) and love it.  And the company is a dream to work with.... if only all companies were as open and friendly as they are!  It's a great "swiss-army knife" with lots of conversion possibilities.

.

they have a 30 day free trial....  i think it's around $825 (i get most on my cad software from novedge.com; they have great deals) and Rhino3D (in my opinion) runs circles around other software like from the devil (autodesk).  LOL

.

.

I often get asked for recommendations for people to learn software, and even though i love Rhino... that's not always my recommendation.  -- I highly recommend using the same software as the people that are around you are using, so that you can learn together, and keep excited learning, progressing, and can teach each other tricks/shortcuts that you learn.  And it's always great for sharing files too!

[CubeX 3D Printman]

Meshmixer works really well to fix and cleanup .stl files. - And it is free.

 

Rick

[Peter Gregory]

Here's what I ended up using:

I bought Gearotic Motion for the gear system design - it was about $150.

It can export to STL.  However, the Cubex printer driver can't slice it well.  Lots of artifacts.

Also, I needed to embed the gear design into other structures.

So, I bought InStep for $20 to convert the STL to STEP format that Invent can import.

The STEP part is very complex, so I can only import one at a time.

I tried projecting the profile of the part into 2D, but all the circles are implemented as a bunch of lines and the teeth are a bunch of lines too.

It turned out much better if I traced the outline of the part and then deleted the imported part.

Once I got the outline in Invent, the Cubex printer driver could render it well.

I've also been using the free software MiniMagics to print STL parts in actual size on my laser printer.

That has been great for making sure the STL measurements are accurate before I 3D print.

[cle...@gmail.com]

Hi, Does anyone know the best output options from Solidworks to CubeX. I have output several STL formats but do I use Binary? ASCII? Course Fine, do I translate faces etc. The reason I ask is that some models have features missing and I'm wondering does anyone know what the best combo of settings is without wasting a load of material?? help! Thanks, Martin

[CubeX 3D Printman]

Hello Martin,

I use:

Binary, mm or meters, Fine resolution,

Not checked: Do not translate STL output data to positive space

Not checked: Save all components of an assembly in a single file

 

This has worked so far for me.

I had also good success importing the solidworks file into the Cubify Invent software and exporting it from there into a .stl file.

 

Rick