CAD Modeling

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Overview

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What Nexus can help with

• Part modelling — Create bosses, cuts, fillets, ribs, shells, sweeps, lofts, and complex surfaces from a written description.
• Parametric editing — Change dimensions and relationships across an entire feature tree without opening each feature individually.
• Assembly management — Add, suppress, or reorder components; create and update mates; run interference checks.
• Configuration and variants — Generate a family of parts (small, medium, large) from a master model, or create a simplified body for simulation.
• Import and repair — Import STEP/IGES files and repair common translation issues (missing faces, open bodies, duplicate geometry).
• File export — Export the active part or assembly to a neutral or downstream format (STEP, IGES, Parasolid, STL, DXF, PDF) with the right options for the destination — tessellation quality for STL, simplified vs. as-modeled geometry, units, and configuration selection.

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Example prompts

Create a new part: a rectangular base plate 120mm x 80mm x 6mm. Add four M6 counterbored holes at each corner, 10mm from each edge. Add a 2mm fillet on all top edges. Set the material to Aluminium 6061-T6.

In C:/Projects/Bracket/bracket_v3.SLDPRT, change the boss diameter from 20mm to 25mm. Then update the clearance hole in the mating part at C:/Projects/Bracket/clearance_plate.SLDPRT to match, with 0.5mm clearance.

Open C:/Projects/Pump/pump_asm_v2.SLDASM. Suppress all fasteners (screws, bolts, washers, nuts) and hide the housing body. Take a screenshot of the exposed internal components.

From the current master part, create three configurations named Small (scale factor 0.8), Standard (as-is), and Large (scale factor 1.25). Save each as a separate SLDPRT file in C:/Projects/Family/.

Import C:/Incoming/housing_supplier.step and check it for translation issues. Report any open bodies, missing faces, or duplicate geometry. Attempt automatic healing and confirm the resulting body is solid.

Export the active assembly to STEP AP242, units millimetres, as-modeled geometry (not simplified). Also export a lightweight STL at 0.05mm tessellation tolerance for a 3D print check. Save both to C:/Projects/Pump/export/ using the assembly file name.

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Tips for geometry prompts

• Reference features by name — “The Base-Extrude feature” or “the M8 tapped hole pattern” is more reliable than “the first boss” when editing existing models.
• Specify the plane — For sketches, say “on the top face” or “on the Front plane” to avoid ambiguity.
• Use relative positioning — “10mm from the edge”, “centred on the face”, “offset 5mm from Datum Plane 1” — Nexus understands spatial language.
• State current state — If modifying an existing part, briefly describe the relevant current state if it’s not obvious from the file name or context.
• Name the destination format’s requirements — exporting for a supplier, a simulation, or a 3D print each call for different settings (as-modeled vs. simplified geometry, tessellation tolerance, units). State what the export is for so Nexus picks sensible defaults.