work a stl file

[astroby81]

Hello people, I have a question to which I hope to receive an answer.
use solidworks to model in 3d, and then create the model with 3d printer.
the question is:
How do I edit a stl file? ...I took a stl file from thingiverse,but I would like to change it and customize it,so I need to convert it into solid to be able to work it. is there a way to do it directly with solidworks,or do I need to use other programs?. I tried to download freecad and follow tutorials to convert the file, but I couldn't.

 

[mariuss.r]

a stl file has nothing to do with nurbs and similar. you need a software that allows you to add or remove or scale the starting mesh. maybe rhino3d is the solution, but without further info on the model it is difficult to answer.

 

[zeigs]

using freecad basically create a solid from mesh. At the moment I do not remember the procedure, but I managed in relatively few steps. the converse is that you find a solid full of faces, which are rather heavy for cad, but for few changes it can work

 

[LaboratorioDieci]

if you have solidworks 2018 you can turn the sl into a mesh body and make boolean in sw

 

[Andrea_SW_2018]

ciao astroby81,
a .stl file may also "work" within a polygonal modeling environment (type 3dstudio, or similar). depends on what type of processing you want to perform and what type of object it is.
You may also use the .stl file as a base to recreate the solid within a nurbs modeler such as rhino or solidworks. use it as a "base", in the sense of using it as a reference to recreate all its ex novo parts.
Good job.

Andrea