# 3D Printing > General 3D Printing Discussion >  SLDASM to STL

## sguthery

The CAD files for a (truly amazing) working model of the Antikythera Mechanism have been posted here:

http://theshamblog.com/cad-files-for...era-mechanism/

The files are SolidWorks SLDASM file.  Does anybody know of an SLDASM to STL translator?  Or is this even possible?

Thanks for any guidance.

Cheers, Scott

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## soofle616

Yes and no. I'm assuming you don't have solidworks or you wouldn't be asking the question. If you download the .zip you'll find that MOST of the files are .sldprt which are parts, not assemblies. The assemblies are also included, most likely because solidworks gets kinda bitchy with assemblies containing lots of parts unless you have a hugely powerful computer. Breaking things up into subassemblies makes it easier to put things together and then combine the subassemblies into a single final assembly. If you do have solidworks you have several options. Either open the main assembly and save it as an .stl which will break out each individual part and save it separately OR open each part on it's own and save it. 

Option 1 is way easier but may hang your computer because it's trying to generate a ton of files all at once. Option 2 is more time consuming but has a much lower chance of crashing.

If you don't have solidworks I'm not sure what else you could use to open the files and save them.

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## RNeil

> which will break out each individual part and save it separately


SolidWorks can save an assembly as a single stl file. When you do save as STL, there is an "options" button. Click it. One of the options is to save all parts of an assembly as a single file. This option should not be used if you want to use different extruders for different parts.




> OR open each part on it's own and save it


This will not give you the desired mating of parts.

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## truly_bent

Step 1: Save assembly (SLDASM) as part (SLDPRT). Be sure to select All Components radial button (see image). This puts all the parts into one file.
Step 2: Open the part file (SLDPRT) and save it as an STL file. You have some control over this process in the Options popup window.

 



This particular example is an assembly of 22 parts. The resulting STL file was uploaded to Shapeways. Here's a Youtube video of the motion study.

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## Wolfie

I am going to go out on a limb and assume that the OP does NOT have SolidWorks or I am pretty sure he would not be asking how to convert a SLDASM(SlDPRT) into STLs in a zip he downloaded.

The only options I know of are...
http://www.solidworks.com/sw/purchas...n_producttrial

http://www.edrawingsviewer.com/ed/edrawings-viewer.htm

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## RNeil

I just tried it. The SolidWorks eDrawing viewer is a free download and converts SolidWorks parts or assemblies into a single STL file.

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## koyeha

Does anybody know of an SLDASM to STL translator? Or is this even possible??????

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