Hey Shapies, are you aware of any CAD tool that would auto arrange parts closely for 3d printing and save on machine space (maybe sg in Solidworks) while respecting SW material clearances ? I have been playing with looping and noticed the price dropped as much as half when I packed them tight, but an algorithm may do an even better job. Ref https://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/design-for-low-cost-3d-p rinting-sls-nylon
Any 3D CAD tool with assembly functionality will work manually. This is a standard part of most higher-end 3D CAD systems. Any CAD package that will do this automatically will be hard to find, and "packing" software probably won't save your parts in one file of a type that can be submitted to SW. Steve Hunter
Can you tell me what is the functionality called, so I can execute it? For example, which option would it be in Solidworks?
I haven't used SolidWorks, but it does have these functions. I currently use Geomagic Design/ Alibre and have used Pro Engineer and Catia, as well as a number of 2D CAD programs. However, this page from SolidWork's web site should get you started on building assemblies. http://help.solidworks.com/2015/english/SolidWorks/sldworks/ c_Assemblies_first_map_topic.htm?id=35b05522d26740f994e8f78a 01e692e3#Pg0&ProductType=&ProductName= Hope this helps! Steve Hunter
Thx. Yes, creating Assemblies is not a problem. Solidworks seems to lack an option, however, to auto arrange assembly parts / components, so they occupy the least machine space.
I don't believe you'll find any CAD tool that will do what you want. That's more of a packing software task, and I can't help with that. Steve
I think the functionality you are looking for is most closely related to (2D) die strip layout optimization or more specifically "blank nesting optimization" - but as far as I know you would need an expensive SolidWorks add-in like Logopress or 3DQuickPress for this (which would do many things that you will never need unless you also design stamping tools for a living). I suspect (some flavour of) the professional version of netfabb studio will be able to do this on the stl (...) file level - after all shapeways must be using something like that to assist their production planning.