SpaceClaim Course, Session 13: Shell Tool

Description

1. Introduction

The Shell tool is one of the practical tools in the Design workspace of SpaceClaim. It allows you to hollow out a solid body with a uniform wall thickness, and you specify that thickness yourself.

Use cases for the Shell tool include situations where we want to make a lighter part and save material and cost, as well as creating thin wall geometry for plastic parts or other similar components.

2. Objectives

In this lesson, we explain the purpose and operation of the Shell command through a practical example. In general, there are several ways to apply shelling to a geometry. One approach is to create a closed hollow body with a specified wall thickness; the procedure for building such a part is demonstrated.

Another approach is face based shelling: select specific faces to remove, and the remainder of the body is shelled.

Finally, we cover the More Shell option, used when the model has already been shelled and you subsequently add new features; choosing More Shell applies the same shell thickness to the newly added regions as well.

3. Summary

The Shell tool in SpaceClaim’s Design workspace hollows a solid with a user-defined, uniform wall thickness. You can remove selected faces to open the part, while the rest of the body offsets to form the shell. It’s ideal for lighter parts, saving material, and creating thin-wall, plastic-style geometry. Use More (Shell) to apply the same thickness to features added after the initial shell.