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solidworks

Make a solid mockup from an assembly in solidworks aka a shrinkwrap

I have a complex assembly that I want to make a 3d printed mockup from. I don't want to have the 3d printer wasting tons of time and filament drawing in every shaft, bearing etc..

Is there a way to make the entire assembly into a single solid (or better still a hollow shell)?

Drawing is here

EDIT:

Attempts so far -

  1. extracted model to STL and passed it to http://www.cadspan.com/ - but UI is confusing and I can't see how to download the shrink-wrapped model

  2. extracted stl and imported it into OpenSCAD - used difference function to "scoop out" the insides (specifically the heat exchanger, bearings and bolts) - render to stl - this was the first one to drop below 1kg of filament - I think there is something better, but this is what I went with 865g, 3+ days of printing :) lets hope no errors

Solution

    1. The traditional way of creating simplified models for prototypes or simulations, will require you to create a new configuration, and supressing the things you want to skip; this is however a time-consuming operation (but sometimes needed).

    2. today we can use either 'Simplify', or 'Defeature' from within Solidworks. The end-result will be somewhat similar to 1. but the system will handle the suppression of components & features, and create derived configurations for you.(based on a size criteria you set up)

    3. Manually saving the Assembly as a part-file, will allow you to select 'Surfaces-only' and will result in and empty shell of all the geometry. The one caveat here is; that any internal parts that has surfaces in the assembly, will still have surfaces after saving it (the system cannot differentiate between inner/outer surfaces)

    Edit

    1. Depending on how important this is for you, you could also go through the 'Cavity' function in Solidworks; making an impression of the assembly into a solid block of material, then deleting all bodies no longer attached to the outer surface; reparing any holes or extra details, and completing by making anew impression, this time of the cavity in your solid block of material.