STP defect

[jswendell]

A part that looks fine in Alibre, looks broken in the Xometry viewer when exported as STEP. Is this an irrelevant glitche in the xometry viewer or evidence that the part is defective somehow?

 

[DavidJ]

If exported as AP203 or AP214 try exporting as AP242. If exported as AP242, try AP203 or AP214. It may help. Also check for any import options in the viewer to experiment with.

Data interchange between systems is one of the most problematic areas - there is rarely a total guarantee of success.

 

[jswendell]

If exported as AP203 or AP214 try exporting as AP242. If exported as AP242, try AP203 or AP214. It may help. Also check for any import options in the viewer to experiment with.

Data interchange between systems is one of the most problematic areas - there is rarely a total guarantee of success.

AP242 made the flaw even more dramatic. I redesigned the part from scratch and that eliminated the error. The only significant difference in the way I designed the two versions of the part is my thread cleanup operation. In the first instance, I used additive revolve. In the second, I replaced it with an extrusion. I have seen this before where a rotary thread cleanup operation created an unusable STEP file. This is a significant bug that needs to be addressed as there are situations where a rotary cleanup is absolutely necessary. What I'm seeing as a trend is that when a revolve operation overlaps a previous helical operation, the resultant part generates a defective STEP file. Attached are both versions so you can see for yourself. "Cup2" is the defective version.