What is a STEP file?
STEP Files or “Standard for the Exchange of Product model data”
A STEP file is 3D drawing that many different CAD (Computer aided design) packages will open and save in, this allows files to be
shared between designers easily, even if the initial design is made in a totally different package
How to load a step file
Well, loading is simple, so here it goes, first load your chosen CAD program
Now click on the “File Menu” and select “Open”, a dialog box opens
Select the file type, which in this case is going to be STEP.
How to save a STEP file
If you want to send STEP files to other people from your own design, From the “File Menu”, click “Save As”
A dialog will come up asking to select somewhere to save and what type of file you want to save as
Choose STEP AP214 (the reason not to choose AP203 is AP214 is in colour), Now give the part a file name.
Now, click the box marked “Options”, a new dialog will open.
In this dialog, you will see “Solid/Surface geometry” as a radio selection box, make sure this is selected. This insures that only the
outside surface of you design is selected to be saved so none of the inside detail is retained. This helps if you want people to have
the outside look and measurements but not the internal specifics.
Click Ok and go back to the other dialog, now click “Save”, your new file should now be ready.
If you are going to send this to somebody I recommend you make a ZIP file of it, it will reduce the size so it will email and you can
also put any other files you need to send with in the same ZIP, it keep it all together.