Need help importing STL/IGS for mold splits

[kuwakuwa]

Hi guys how is it going,

I'm trying to design a simple rubber toy, and decided that the cheapest way to knock out some prototypes would be to make my own SLA mold and pour molten plastic into it. Much like pouring your own fishing lure.

So the part that I was hoping you could help me with, is importing the STL/IGS file from a surface modeling software (using Blender and/or Maya), and bringing that into a solid modeling software (using SolidWorks).

Although SolidWorks has a feature where you can import an STL as a solid, it seems that my STL files are too large for such an import. (An error pops up saying the file is too large.. its about 9MB) And when I try to save as and IGS, it doesn't quite translate and I receive lots of errors and no data.

I figured there was a simple way to accomplish this since if I had an STL file and sent it to a tooling/molding shop, they'd be able to knock out a mold split out of it right away. Maybe I'm lacking a plugin on SolidWorks, or a step in between?

Any help or leads would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Satoshi

 

[AndrewNew]

You can use Meshlab (http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/) to reduce the triangle count before importing into SolidWorks. IIRC, SolidWorks will cope with up to about 20,000 triangles in an STL file, but you might need to experiment. Once you've got it imported, you can use all the usual SW tools. Make sure you check "import as solid" in the SW STL import options.