SolidWorks plugin (official thread)

[Khamul2000 1]

Hey thanks for getting back to me but for some reason it's working all of a sudden 

[Khamul2000 1]

I do however have one question.   What's the difference between fine (3d print).  And fine (SolidWorks)

 

[thopiekar 46]

Great to hear! The settings are finer than in the SolidWorks ones. If you are using SolidWorks only you choose between three profiles:
* Fine

* Coarse
* Custom

These fine and coarse profiles are the SolidWorks' ones you see in the plugin. I can imagine SolidWorks tweaked the parameters behind these profiles for industrial printers with larger build volumes and therefore if you print on an Ultimaker (having an Ultimaker 2 or 3 primary in mind) then you will get something that is too coarse still. E.g. the rounding won't be nice.
Just to suite everyone using the plugin, I decided to keep the access to SolidWorks' presettings - for those who are used to them.

Btw., if you find the parameters in our fine profile still too coarse, just let me know! 🙂

Edited September 13, 2020 by thopiekar

[Khamul2000 1]

Thanks for the explanation. I would love to crank the level of detail when exporting.  The smoother the round the better.  Before when I was saving an .STL I would have my export settings set very detailed. I would like to keep the same when using the export.

[XYZDesignPro 70]

In the Export Dialog Box choose "Keep Settings Unchanged" from the drop down list. 

 

The settings that will be used on your model are then those you have established under Custom in SolidWorks.

 

For instance, here are mine:

 

 

Hope this helps.

[thopiekar 46]

@Khamul2000: If you are interested to dig deeper, you can take a look into the plugin's source files.

The file called "SolidWorksReader" has the parameters, which you would normally set via "Custom" mode:
https://git.thopiekar.eu/Cura/CAD/CuraSolidworksPlugin/-/blob/master/CuraSolidWorksPlugin/SolidWorksReader.py#L656

As I said before, if you find other settings (or one of the two) too coarse for e.g. "fine", then argue and let's discuss here. We can adjust the parameters then, so everyone can benefit from our findings 😉

[swatti 2]

ISSUE: Installed SolidWorks 2021 and re-installed the plugin, with the macro in SW. I used to have SW2015 and when i clicked on the macro it moved anything i had highlighted or selected into Cura, but now it tries to export the whole model, all parts, not just the one i have highlighted/selected.

What am i doing wrong?

[Verdeel 1]

Hi, just want to start by saying that I am really happy with the solidworks plugin. 

 

I think that since installing cura 4.12 the imported models are no longer in fine/custom quality. I've first saved a solidworks model as an stl with custom quality. Low deviation and a small angle tolerance. During import into cura I selected "keep settings unchanged". The imported model shows big facets, while the stl that was saved with the custom settings is really smooth. 

 

Any idea's what I can check why this is the case? 

 

Attached pictures: solidworks stl save settings and a cura screenshot of two imported (overlapping) models. Both for the same solidworks model, left is the model saved as stl, right is imported using the plugin with 'keep settings unchanged'. 

[mxmln 0]

Hi there,

 

we are planning to buy an Ultimaker S5, because of this solidworks integration, but unfortunately there is a consistant error occuring. Perhaps you can resolve my problem easily. I have Solidworks 2021 installed and Ultimaker Cura 4.13.1 with the Solidworks Integration plugin. The Solidworks macro was set up as descibed in the tutorial.

 

So now I should be able to oben Solidworks files and transfer data by clicking on the macro to Cura. But I am not. Below are the error message, the simple part that I tested, and the export options for STL.

 

Any idea how I can get this going? It would be a great improvment for our workflow.

 

Thanks in advance

Max

 

 

[DBVOLA 9]

On 3/16/2022 at 11:36 AM, mxmln said:

Hi there,

 

we are planning to buy an Ultimaker S5, because of this solidworks integration, but unfortunately there is a consistant error occuring. Perhaps you can resolve my problem easily. I have Solidworks 2021 installed and Ultimaker Cura 4.13.1 with the Solidworks Integration plugin. The Solidworks macro was set up as descibed in the tutorial.

 

So now I should be able to oben Solidworks files and transfer data by clicking on the macro to Cura. But I am not. Below are the error message, the simple part that I tested, and the export options for STL.

 

Any idea how I can get this going? It would be a great improvment for our workflow.

 

Thanks in advance

Max

 

 

We (VOLA R&D) have the same setup. But no macro. And we have the same problem. 70 to 80% of the imported files fails. And ther dont seam to be a pattern! What do we do???

[Verdeel 1]

Try "Run as Administrator" when starting Cura. That works for me. I started having this issue somewhere around 4.11 (or 4.12)

[DBVOLA 9]

On 4/8/2022 at 11:52 AM, Verdeel said:

Try "Run as Administrator" when starting Cura. That works for me. I started having this issue somewhere around 4.11 (or 4.12)

Thanks. That works 🙂 All i need now, is to have my admin come every morning, and start Cura on my pc 😕

[DBVOLA 9]

I found this: (See pic) It works for me. 

 

[XYZDesignPro 70]

WOW, worked for me as well.  This poor / marginal functionality has been frustrating me for months, maybe years.  How did you ever figure that out?  

 

I did save the old .py file as a back up in case this completely screwed up the Cura or plugin installations.

 

SolidWorks  2022 SP 1.0 and Cura 4.13.1

 

Have you contacted the developer?

[DBVOLA 9]

21 hours ago, XYZDesignPro said:

WOW, worked for me as well.  This poor / marginal functionality has been frustrating me for months, maybe years.  How did you ever figure that out?  

 

I did save the old .py file as a back up in case this completely screwed up the Cura or plugin installations.

 

SolidWorks  2022 SP 1.0 and Cura 4.13.1

 

Have you contacted the developer?

"google is your friend" 🙂

No. I haven't. 

[Siamak678 0]

Hi folks; 

 

The plugin doesn't install on Cura 5. Is that because it hasn't been updated for 2 years now?

 

 

[Cuq 198]

No, just because it hasn't been updated for Cura 5.0 

Edited June 29, 2022 by Cuq

[grs 1]

Does anyone know if there will be an update for cura 5.0?

For us, this plugin is a great help!

[Gereee 0]

I am also interested in having that plugin for the version of Cura 5.2.1 and Solidworks 2018. Saves me work and create files.

[Gereee 0]

an update for cura 5 has not come out yet :((

news about it?

[drayson 75]

I also would love to get this plugin back, but I fear that the developer of it has not been on this forum since a long time.

Just look for Topiekar - last visited January 28, 2021...

very sad...

Maybe somebody else could jump in and make it usable again???

 

@nallath, long time no hear - sorry for bringing you in, but is there any chance anybody from Ultimaker side could assist??

Edited February 20, 2023 by drayson

[nallath 1,120]

Ultimaker provides a paid plugin that does what the solidworks plugin does (and more). I don't think that we will be spending time on porting what thopiekar did.

[drayson 75]

On 2/21/2023 at 9:29 AM, nallath said:

Ultimaker provides a paid plugin that does what the solidworks plugin does (and more). I don't think that we will be spending time on porting what thopiekar did.

@nallath, ooook - so now its up to me to get it 🙂

I'm still on my beloved UMO from 2012 so I hope that this is not only elated to the new ecosystem.

 

BTW: recognized in 5.2.2 (and 5.3beta) that both, Normal and Fine quality profiles are 0.15 (!?!?) instead of 0.15 and 0.1... Bug? or related to my UMO? In 5.1.0 all was fine...

Edited February 24, 2023 by drayson

[Gereee 0]

On 21/2/2023 at 9:29, nallath said:

Ultimaker proporciona un complemento de pago que hace lo que hace el complemento de solidworks (y más). No creo que dediquemos tiempo a portar lo que hizo thopiekar.

how can i get that plugin?