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Hi Vern,

RC Groups was one of the first places I posted the design but without any more than a couple of interested people, and they would have wanted PDF files or similar. Unfortunately, as I said, my time is short at the moment.

I suppose I am going to have to prove it myself and get laser or CNC cut parts and build it myself. That's OK, it's just going to be a while before I can get round to doing that.

The main problem with both STEP and IGES files is the lack of a history tree. I have a feature recognition program that I downloaded from AutoDesk's lab. that recognises features and builds a history tree. Unfortunately it is fallable and not every model comes through without work. I have had errors on files exported from the same copy of Inventor in .igs format and brought back in using the feature recognition software - go figure!

With a new generation of solid modellers on the way that don't rely on a history tree this type of problem might become a thing of the past - I wish! AutoDesk are already previewing the next generation of software on their web site.

Dave