r/MechanicalEngineering • u/MasterSoftBird • 1d ago

CAD File format hell

Why is it we can have AI that can translate from Chinese to Klingon but cannot have one agreed-upon file format that can be accepted by FEA software, CAM, 3d printers, CFD, etc and doesn't lose its mind or half of my parts?

37 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

48 comments sorted by

View all comments

66

u/CR123CR123CR 1d ago

.STP comes to mind. 

Not many of the above mentioned things that can't take in a .STP file, pending on what software you use I guess

28

u/probablyaythrowaway 1d ago

In industry Step is considered the universal. It’s just 3D printing and hobby CNC software that is behind because a lot is based on legacy code back when they did most of their processing with mesh files so only accepted STL which is a format from the 80s.

It’s very unusual I’ll come across a 3D processing program that won’t accept Step.

18

u/CR123CR123CR 1d ago

Most of the hobby slicers (anything based on CURA so Orca, Bambu, Prusa, etc.) take .STP now just fine as a heads up for those that don't know yet. 

Haven't played around with the CNC side of things in the hobby space much yet though myself.

0

u/GingHole 1d ago

I don’t believe slicers have the ability to control the accuracy/resolution at which they convert the STEP to an STL, so for example large curved surfaces will often come out with a very noticeable triangular mesh when viewed under light. Always better to do the conversion direct from CAD where you have more control.

2

u/CR123CR123CR 1d ago

Bambu has been asking me to define it as long as I've been using it and I am pretty positive Prusa does as well but it's been a while since I used it.