SOLIDWORKS tutorial: transforming surface into volume

What is surface engineering and why use it?

Surfaces are the basis of all current CAD software, and can be used to create complex shapes or to work around problems encountered by the software.

When importing a file (step, igs, x_t etc...), it is possible to obtain a surface texture following an import/export problem. In this case, the surface texture is systematically the only solution for repairing the file in SOLIDWORKS.

How to proceed

We want to create a surface to fill the holes and make a volume (for legibility reasons, the edges of open surfaces have been set to red):

If you haven't already done so, activate the surface tools by right-clicking on one of the tabs

We're going to use the flat "surface" function to fill the holes. Start by right-clicking on one of the open edges and selecting "Select open loop", then add the cylinder edge inside.

When we obtain this surface, we see that it's not joined to the rest, and we'll see later how to join it to the others.

Do the same for the opposite surface. Please note: it is not recommended to create symmetrical surfaces.

Create the last surface using the Flat surface function.

Right-click on one of the open edges and select "Select open loop".

This is what you get:

Select the surfaces to be joined together to form the volume. If they form a closed volume, the "Create Solid" box becomes selectable.

The result is a volume of :

Select the surfaces to be joined to form the volume, and press the "Intersection" button.

If the result allows you to create a solid, you get a single line in the "Region to Exclude" menu.

Select the "Consume surfaces" checkbox to deactivate surfaces once the function has been validated.