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Solved G-Code of SolidWorks files

Discussion in 'General Questions' started by Michele Beyer, Nov 27, 2015.

  1. Michele Beyer

    Michele Beyer Member

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    Hello,

    I'm trying to use a job cost calculator for a 3D print job, and I need to determine the length of filament used. I know I can find this data in the G-code of my model, however I don't know how to find the g-code of a SolidWorks file - do I need some kind of software? Or can I find it on Matter Control somehow?

    Thank you!
     
    #1 Michele Beyer, Nov 27, 2015
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    #2 mark tomlinson, Nov 27, 2015
  3. Michele Beyer

    Michele Beyer Member

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    Yes, I know SolidWorks, I use it every day :) I guess I thought a .stl file was full of G-code or something, which is why I asked if I needed software, aka Matter Control to read it. Do you know where I can find the filament length for a model on Matter Control? I looked through everything and nothing pops out at me.
     
    #3 Michele Beyer, Nov 27, 2015
  4. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Sorry, I can't help you with MatterControl. I use SolidWorks and Simplify3D. Simplify3D plainly shows you on the screen how much the estimated filament use is before you start.
     
    #4 mark tomlinson, Nov 27, 2015
  5. Michele Beyer

    Michele Beyer Member

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    Gotcha, yeah I've been meaning to get Simplify3D, we use it at work. I just haven't had any issues with Matter Control, so for now I'll probably stick with it. Thank you again for all of your help this past week!!
     
    #5 Michele Beyer, Nov 27, 2015
  6. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Good luck. If the free stuff works, stick with it. I often say that as you grow with the printer you will eventually outgrow the free ones :)
     
    #6 mark tomlinson, Nov 28, 2015
    Printed Solid likes this.
  7. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    You can use solidworks to find the volume of the part. With the volume you can find the mass using the density of your filament. With the mass you can figure out the length.
     
    #7 Mike Kelly, Nov 28, 2015
  8. c. West

    c. West Member

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    Or you can get S3D :)

    Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
     
    #8 c. West, Dec 4, 2015
  9. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    What is the gcode of a solid works file? Does solid works have a built in slicer now? If it does, it should give you length of filament used like all other decent slicers. At the very least, you can open up the code and look towards the end to see how much filament has been extruded in length and back calculate.

    If I'm misunderstanding and you're just asking how to slice a solidworks file with another slicer, you need to export to stl. Then you can go into something like Cura for slicing to get your estimates. Cura lets you put in parameters for filament density and cost, so it outputs cost of materials used and weight of filament. This will be completely accurate if you have entered things correctly. There are a lot of benefits to using a slicer directly rather than going through a third party interface like mattercontrol or repetier host, least of which is that you are able to keep current on your version to take advantage of improvements.
     
    #9 Printed Solid, Dec 5, 2015

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