Shell Error

I am trying to shell a solid. I get error "No solution for vertex". I am thinking this may be due to where I swept two helixes and where they are connected is not a smooth transition. The file is too large to attach. Will someone please instruct me how to make and attach a screen shot of my drawing. Thanks, Mike

The old standby of ALT+Printscreen will produce a BMP that can be opened with the Paint program then saved as a JPG or PNG file.

If you are running Windows 7 it comes with a feature called the "Snipping Tool".

SnagIt...free 30-day trial here: http://www.techsmith.com/download/snagit/default.asp?gclid=CPPywsLekbICFYFo4Aod61UAag

The SNIPPING TOOL is in Vista too.

ALL PROGRAMS > ACCESSORIES > Snipping Tool should get you started.

Thaks for the screen shot tip. Here is my model of a screw cap. I pointed out where I may have the issue that I cant shell this solid.

Nice image but without the drawing file to look at and experiment with I'm not sure I could diagnose the problem. Looks like a job for JDM! His recommendation will most likely be "Buy Inventor...a modern mcad program." Are you a student by any chance?

My guess is that you will not be able to shell that in AutoCAD.

Imagine you have an arc with radius 2mm. Now you try to offset that arc 2.1mm towards the inside (that is what Shell is - and offset operation).

What would the resulting radius be? (trick question)

Now imagine you have a complex surface bending every which way - is it possible that an offset would result in negative geometry (is that even possible)?

There probably is a way to reduce the file size.

With solidhist on -

Create a box enveloping your solid.

Union

the result is a solid box

right click on the filename and select Send to Compressed (zipped) folder.

Attach the resulting *.zip file here.

On this end someome will go into the Properties and make the box smaller revealing your part.

I have no clue why anyone would model something of this complexity in AutoCAD without a real history tree of the features.

Thanks for the input. I guess this drawing is to complex for regular AutoCAD. My company just invested in SolidWork for me to use. Now I am compelled to learn it.

Shell comand is sometimes flakey in Autocad. Ive shelled much more complicated parts than that with autocad. Sometimes you need to move the part to 0,0,0 and other times you need to move what you are trying to shell to a new drawing window and shell it there then move it back to the original drawing.

Post the much more complex part that has been shelled.

It could be a simple matter of logic.

As soon as I find one that has no NDA ill post it.

As soon as I find one that has no NDA ill post it.

Don't bother - I have plenty of parts that might be considered "more complex" that will shell in AutoCAD.

But it comes down to a definition of "complex". If you have a curve that would offset to negative (shell is an offset function) then even the most simple of parts will fail to shell.

Adding complexity only increases the odds of encountering this error, but complexity is not a requirement. It is a matter of logic and how the program is written to account for situations like this.

Since the OP never posted the file - it is not possible to determine why it wouldn't shell, but from the image am fairly confident the reason has been described.

Sure. One thing Ive noticed is sometimes you cannot shell even a simple cube in a drawing. Bringing it to 0,0,0 dosent help either. But if you open a new drawing then it works perfectly.