Part VI: Using Advanced Techniques
FIGURE 26.17The Bodies to Keep dialog box
Managing bodies with Split feature
The Split feature has essentially three functions:
l To split a single solid body into multiple solid bodies using planes, sketches, or surface
bodies
l To save individual solid bodies out to individual part filesl (^) To reassemble individual part files that are saved out into an assembly where the parts are
all positioned in the same relative position as their corresponding bodies
The last two functions of the Split feature are addressed in Chapter 28. The part of the Split feature
that concerns this chapter is the first function mentioned, which is splitting a single solid body into
multiple bodies using a sketch, a plane, or a surface body.
The Split feature cannot be used to split surface bodies. In fact, nothing in SolidWorks can split sur-
face bodies. Only solid bodies can be split. Surface bodies can only be trimmed, so the effective
workaround for not being able to split surface bodies is to copy the body, then trim and keep one
side of the copy and the other side of the original. This seems like a functionality oversight, and
would make a great enhancement request if you have ever come across the need for this functionality.
Patterning a sketch ..................................................................................................
When you are using a sketch to split a single solid body into multiple bodies, the Split process
works like this: