I am having an issue when subtracting one solid from another solid. I have scaled these solids up considerable and the model is still breaking. I am trying to create a hole thru a curved surface by subtracting a cylinder shape.
Could anyone please provide me with a suggestion on what I could do to achieve this.
I have posted a before and after picture.
Thanks!
How much is âconsiderableâ?
Can you share the file before the Subtract step?
I scaled up to a 1000 and the model would still break. No exactly the in the same way, but I still have issues when I go to save and export as an STL. I failed to mention that.
Here is the file prior to subtraction.
CO2 Tank Handle and Stand.skp (3.2 MB)
Your model is still showing the original dimensions in mm.
I donât see where you have âscaled upâ.
Try using the Dave Method (search for it in this forum).
PS. And your cylinder isnât a solid - just a Group. Solid Inspector says you have two stray edges and an external face. Solid inspector offers to fix all, and when Iâve done that, the cylinder becomes a solid group.
But it still has too many edges to cut cleanly. This is the result from Enerothâs Solid Tools, even on the 1000x times scaled up model.
You could clean this up, but it would be easier to remake the cylinder with fewer edges in the circle you start from.
Tried that with a 24 side cylinder instead of 96. Cuts the edges cleanly this time, but doesnât make a surface round the hole in the funnel.
You could try stitching this one together.
But it might be easier to remake the funnel with fewer faces too - there are a LOT as View/Hidden Geometry shows:
It looks like youâre still running into tiny geometry due to excessive numbers of edges. Try this .stl. Does it work for you? Make sure you import it into the slicer with units at millimeters.
CO2 Tank Handle and Stand.stl (902.8 KB)
As Dave says, I too think thatâs the problem.
Redraw the funnel, with FAR fewer edges, scale up 1000x and try again.
Looks as if Dave has got you a solid STL.
Solid tools can be a bit of a blunt instrument, intersect faces often works better with intricate geometry.
This is scaled up by 100, 10 works but you need to trace one edge.
Thank you for all of the suggestions. I redrew the funnel and reduced the faces considerably. I was able to easily subtract and make the hole I needed.
I also vote for @Box 's method, as Solid Tools can break even much simpler curved surfaces, like a spout I made yesterday from 24s circles curvilofted and then truebended, which makes for 6.7k entities. Solid Tools creates four holes. There wouldnât be any way to simplify this shape without bending manually which takes hours. I used intersect faces to get a solid union instead. It take one minute.
pourer solid fail.skp (459.2 KB)
Interestingly, I tried BoolTools2 on this model because it claims to automatically deal with scaling issues (and usually works perfectly). In this case it mysteriously quit partway through the operation, leaving a bunch of gigantic objects still present and without finishing removing the subtracted part.
I have informed MindSight Studios about this issue. I havenât heard back yet, but hopefully they will correct the bug.
