I have posted the images above with feature tree. The command used is "Delete Face" from surface tools
I agree with you in the first part, that people, who don't know what they are doing, will not create better models by using surfacing tools on top of solid tools. But, speaking for myself, I tend to use surfacing tools in most of my models. It simply makes more sense to focus on one face at a time and not having to worry about what happens 'in the back' of the part that is being created. I also use surfaces to make cuts with and as guides for moving parts in assemblies where standard mates can't be used. Finally, I would be hard pressed to make any kind of boat using solid modelling tools - I believe that this would create lots of strange internal geometry that would need to be fixed?
But all credit to you for being able to accomplish all your jobs by only using solid modelling - that is not easy!
In my case, until recently, I did not pay attention to surfaces. But I changed my perception of them by seeing different design examples than what I usually do and listening to the opinions of other colleagues.
I realized that "my preference for solids" comes, on the one hand, from the type of machinery I design (hot rolling steel equipment, mostly). These pieces of equipment have pieces obtained by chip removal (turning, milling, etc.), pieces cast and then machined, and structures of profiles and/or thick plates cut and welded (so I have not had the need to work with the module of SolidWorks "sheet metal").
But, on the other hand, this preference has to do with "creating the final object" in a similar way to how you would build it in reality: starting from a volume, extracting some parts and adding others (without the complexity of shapes that it has, for example, the hull of a ship, the fuselage of an airplane, or the body of a car).
Added to this, since all my designs start at the concept stage, I always make them from scratch and have never been forced to take a pre-existing model and treat it as imported geometry. In such cases it seems essential to know how to repair and edit surfaces, then convert them to solids, recognize features, etc.
Anyway, I think my limitation is "by inertia": I learned to handle a tweezer and suddenly, if I need to hammer a small nail, I use it too. It's something I'm trying to improve!
As the saying goes:
If your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
I must admit my capabilities with surfaces is quite limited. That's primarily due to the fact that, like Capricornio, solid modeling works extremely well for machine fabrication with almost no need for surfacing. Everything is square blocks, simple extrusions, holes and such. Everything is modeled in much the same fashion that it will actually be fabricated. I've just never had the need for surfacing to any degree. My hammer works just fine. LOL
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