Ignoring Very Small Details

[NWRobotics]

This is not an issue I'd thought I would ever have, but I have a SolidWorks part that was converted from another file type and I have no way to edit the part. It is a PCB board with hundreds of small holes the size of a needle. I need to print the board (which has irregular geometry) for a model I am making, however, I want to ignore the very tiny holes. I tried turning on "Merge all outlines into a single solid model" but that removes large internal features I need to keep. Is there a way to accomplish this while retaining the large holes and features and only ignoring the small holes as I have no way to edit the part and remove the holes myself. Thanks in advance.

[jeand]

Open the stl in OpenScad and fill the holes with cylinder([x,y,z]) commands or better in Freecad (convert stl to solid and fill the holes with a sketch).

[zemlin]

In solidworks, when you import the part, look for the OPTIONS button. There, choose to import as solid and you'll be able to edit it.

[billyd]

Another way that might work is to use an extrusion width that is larger than the hole diameters. See what the slicer does with that, not sure if it will work or do something strange. It might require you to use a large nozzle diameter.

[zemlin]

Another way that might work is to use an extrusion width that is larger than the hole diameters. See what the slicer does with that, not sure if it will work or do something strange. It might require you to use a large nozzle diameter.

Don't think that will have the desired result. I had a piece a few years back where I wanted to have a certain region printed solid and the rest of the part with infill - so I added a fairly dense pattern of .001" diameter holes. The slicer saw those small holes and put perimeters around each one, so that worked to give me a solid part in that area.