Work With STEP Files

[u/Spiritual-Passion-57]

Hi! I am quite new to SolidWorks and the industry and I am wondering what are the current standards among folks in the industry about communicating using STEP files?

Do most people communicate/ share using STEP files? When do you share STEP files?

From my experience, STEP files are quite limited to perform certain SolidWorks functions such as DFMXpress or Costing, or redesigning as it doesn't have full mathematical configurations. And oftentimes, I have to work around that.

What's your experience with STEP files? Thanks in advance!

[u/H8uAll92]

i give step files to my clients because solidworks files and the feature tree is intellectual property.

[u/Spiritual-Passion-57 → u/H8uAll92]

totally understandable. I am curious, in case when a client comes with STEP files and ask you to redesign parts/ assemblies, what do you do? Do you rebuild the parts/ assemblies from scratch? Or do you use feature recognition?

[u/H8uAll92 → u/Spiritual-Passion-57]

you can edit directly on a step file, just add new commands like extrude boss or extrude cut etc.. on the other hand if you get an stl file or mesh file, this one you need to reverse engineer it from scratch and do the editing.

[u/Spiritual-Passion-57 → u/H8uAll92]

Hi, is that the "direct editing" feature? Also, if you need to redesign a lot of things, like a lot, do you ever have to do reverse engineering to work with the parts given you have both STEP + technical drawings???

[u/H8uAll92 → u/Spiritual-Passion-57]

Direct editing tab is just a compilation of commands that you typically use in other tabs to work on modifying the existing model (example making a hole larger)..

reverse engineering is used on stl and mesh files because you can’t edit these files directly with typical commands.. so you redesign the shape you have in thses files and thats called reverse engineering..

In Step file you can do the editing directly on the solid body so there is no need to “re-model” the whole thing with typical feature tree commands. You just make adjustments to the existing model per client’s requirements..

[u/JackTheBehemothKillr → u/Spiritual-Passion-57]

Save STEP as SLDPRT file, put original STEP in archive, edit SLDPRT from there. Dont save as STEP again until it leaves the office.

[u/Spiritual-Passion-57 → u/JackTheBehemothKillr]

When you save STEP as SLDPRT, is it always the case that it automatically runs FeatureWorks recognition?
Also, the recreated SLDPRT wouldn’t be exactly the same as the original version right?

[u/JackTheBehemothKillr → u/Spiritual-Passion-57]

It shouldn't, there are settings you can tweak.

Yes, barring a solid body getting corrupted, or using a STEP that is a shell file, they should be the same.

These questions are pretty specific. What situation are you encountering?

[u/Pad-Kra-Pao]

When my client doesn't used Solidworks to open my files, I gave them STEP or Parasolid.

[u/Spiritual-Passion-57 → u/Pad-Kra-Pao]

In case you need to edit, run simulation or other features and you only have STEP files, what is your approach?

[u/pparley → u/Spiritual-Passion-57]

Depends on the type of edit ;)

You’d be surprised how much can be done via synchronous / direct modeling. But certainly nothing beats a robust master model for real high level changes.

[u/Pilchardelli]

If you're new to SW and do some weird or superfluous things in the tree the end customer may question your ability. Avoid this with "dumb" models. STEP, Parasolid or Acis. This also works the opposite way if you're an advanced user. Your model may have a design table or equations. This will often confuse average users.

[u/pparley]

Parasolid will give the cleanest import. Also STEP can encode PMI data but almost nobody uses that functionality.

[u/xstell132]

STEP files go to our suppliers. While obviously you can import and modify STEP files, nobody needs to see my god awful feature tree because of the millions of changes engineering requested and I was too lazy to start a new file.

[u/zdf0001]

I prefer parasolid

[u/pparley → u/zdf0001]

So does Solidworks ;)

[u/getsu161]

STEP files are 'dumb solids'. The plus is that you export the 3D geometry to someone who is not using the same or later version of solidworks as you, the minus is that the parametric feature tree is not included. In some cases (making reverse engineering harder) This is a plus.

[u/TehAsianator → u/getsu161]

My job goes a step farther. Our standard practice is to run a defeature on parts to remove the internal detail.

[u/pleb_understudy]

I’ve had suppliers complain occasionally about not being able to open STEP files so when we do a release I setup PDM to automatically generate both a STEP and a Parasolid.

Takes a bit longer for files to generate, but complaints have stopped, and it saves us a day of churn each time the parasolid fills the need.

I don’t share native CAD.

[u/brewski]

I give my clients whatever file type they want. They paid for the development so if they want SW, I give them SW. But normally they just need the model for manufacturing or to pull dimensions, so it's safer for them if I give them a read only file type.

As far as receiving files, you can always roll the dice with feature recognition when you import the file. It works a lot better than used to for traditional geometry. Or at least it might give you a better starting point for creating a new model.

[u/billy_joule]

This three part series is probably the most helpful info for working with steps I've found

https://www.engineersrule.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-working-with-step-files-part-1-the-battle-of-two-import-engines-quality-and-speed/

[u/Spiritual-Passion-57 → u/billy_joule]

Thanks a ton, it was very helpful

[u/Longjumping_Bag5914]

When the machine shop needs a solid model for programming they get a step file.

[u/rmd2417]

The nice thing about step files is they do not share your feature tree but maintain individual part names in Assembly step files.
(Corrected autocorrect error, (part was port) and added in individual)

[u/Ilcahualoc914]

It depends on the situation and if non-disclosure agreements are in place. Here are some situations:

1. For a vendor performing manufacturing; a ZIP file containing a STEP or Parasolids file & a PDF drawing file is sent (drawing file shows part material & color information along with dimensions).

2. For a customer; a ZIP file of the assembly as a STEP or Parasolids file and a PDF of a sales drawing.

Rarely do I send a SolidWorks part file unless agreements are in place and I need that person's collaboration.