Converting DWG to Solid works

[Wright D]

I need to convert some DWG's to Solid Works files. Solid works has a built in translator, but version we have does not allow us to import 3d solids/modeled, only curves.
Is there a way to get the solids in another format that I can use in solid works?

[Wright D]

I need to convert some DWG's to Solid Works files. Solid works has a built in translator, but version we have does not allow us to import 3d solids/modeled, only curves.
Is there a way to get the solids in another format that I can use in solid works?

[Mark TMV]

You may want to try 'feature recognition' - right click, and follow the prompts.

[Wright D]

Where do I right click?

[BeaverGuy]

If you have access to AutoCAD you could save the DWG in another format that supports solids. I don't believe it supports IGS but SAT files are. I was playing with this in Pro/E last year and that was the easiest way to do it.

[Wright D]

Thanks for the tips; I will have to get a friend who has auto cad.

[drivetrainUW-Platt]

I'm pretty sure you can highlight the drawing in Autocad, and physically paste it into an open solidworks sketch, if I remember correctly, you have to have something in the sketch first, like just a junk line. Then you can dimension in solidworks to fully constrain it.

[Wright D]

I can get lines and curves to transfer, but not solids. How do I do that?

[Dr Claw]

i'd stay away from having awful-CAD solids transfering to Solid works...it's just not pretty.

Feature recogniser only works for simplistic parts from my experience...and even then i always get sketchy results. i'd rather just redraw it in whatever native solid modeling program you have.

Do you have a stadard 2D print for the part that is in question?

[drivetrainUW-Platt]

drawing solids in autocad is like pulling teeth, might as well start from scratch in solidworks, it will be easier and be infanitely more useful in the end.

[Wright D]

The part I was given is a solid in auto cad, and is not very complex, but would be difficult to duplicate in solid works. The parts in question are race car body work, which is simple in form, but difficult to duplicate with out having many detailed drawings of the part, which I don't. Is there a generic solid (.iges or .stl) that I could save the part as, and then import it into solid works? I don't care if it comes in a dummy solid which I cannot change.

[LSU Dave]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Wright D:
The part I was given is a solid in auto cad, and is not very complex, but would be difficult to duplicate in solid works. The parts in question are race car body work, which is simple in form, but difficult to duplicate with out having many detailed drawings of the part, which I don't. Is there a generic solid (.iges or .stl) that I could save the part as, and then import it into solid works? I don't care if it comes in a dummy solid which I cannot change. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Either one of those would work fine.

[Kevin Hall]

I thought that any "solid" in AutoCad was simply a 3D wireframe with shading for the appearance of a solid. Am I incorrect in thinking this?

[Greg H]

Is it possible to explode your solid in autocad and use sketches in solidworks to recreate it?

[BeaverGuy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Kevin Hall:
I thought that any "solid" in AutoCad was simply a 3D wireframe with shading for the appearance of a solid. Am I incorrect in thinking this? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Solids can be constructed that way but they are a lot more difficult to use. True solids can be created in much the same was as with any mainstream parametric modeling program using boolean operations with the addition that basic primitives can be created with out having to make an extrusion. However, they are not parametric and it can be very difficult to create the right geometry at times.