That's it all in the title, I'd like to know why would someone want to use the split tool instead of making 2 separate pieces?
Is it supposed to represent an assembly of welded/screwed parts (or any other mode of assembly) from real life?
In my case for example, I have a room (that you have seen in my previous posts, yes, the kind of tagine dish :D), there is a top, a bottom that must fit together. I could have done it in 2 pieces, but at first I went for only one telling myself that solidworks would allow me to extract each piece, but in fact apart from the "splitting" there is not much proposed... So I wonder if I should redo my 2 pieces separately, or if a "pro" would have done the same and would have split later.
1) It is sometimes easier to make a single part, split afterwards, insert the bodies in new parts, then you work on the original part to update the derived parts files.
2) To pass certain functions, fractionation can help, imagine that you want to do a sweeping material removal for example, but you don't want to act on a part of the part, so you fractionate, you pass the function only on the selected body and you recombine, to find a single body.
3) You want to delete a piece of room, you then use a plane, a left surface... to split the part and remove the inculated body.
...
I often use this function, it is used in many cases
In your case I will have made 2 separate parts if they are intended to be dismantled ("bolted").
If, on the other hand, it is to obtain a mechanically welded part, I could have done as you did, by splitting the volume. Like this, I have a sldprt part (in terms of supply I subcontract this part and get it finished in one piece) and 2 separate bodies for my drawing.
A solution in your case if you want to separate yourself 2 pieces, would be to split the volume and then save the bodies in new rooms. In the "Bulky bodies" folder, right-click on a body, "Insert in a new room". But beware of document management!
For the usefulness of the split function, being in the preliminary project, I use it a lot to cut a piece in 2, which was not originally supposed to be. It saves me from having to redo it and for a commercial image that's enough. My 3D is generally not realized during the study of the final part.
The "split" tool is useful in a company where we send our parts to be cut, for example in the one where I am we have a plasma cut which requires a sheet metal format, on the other hand when this part is larger than the sheet metal format it must be done in 2 parts, This is where splitting is very useful. ;)
@Benoit.LF in fact I don't really know how to get it assembled, I don't have enough knowledge in the field. Today I'm not even 100% sure that it will be plastic and not aluminum, but hey in case it is plastic (there is still more chance), what type of assembly would be used for what situation? I think I read that it is very important for recycling (and therefore it is part of eco-design), any opinion on the subject?