Edge Flange

[ramsay]

Hi iam looking for some help in sheet-metal in solidworks 2009.

I have created this box using solid block then shell then rip so i didnt have to create all the bends myself, iam not sure if this can be done like this iam just experementing.

The problem i have is when i create the edge flange all the way round the box in the pic i can get the bottom and sides ok but when i try to create the top bends i cant get them to mitre automatically they always clash becouse the top starts at a differnt angle than the other ones at the sides.

I can upload more detail pics if anyone got any ideas.

 

Thanks in advance

[shift1313]

its kinda hard for me to tell from the pic what the inside of your box looks like, but sw09 added a really nice feature. solid to sheetmetal. You can take a solid object and convert it to a bent sheet metal piece.

 

can you rotate the model around a bit so i can see it a little better?

[ramsay]

Here is another couple of screen shots iam trying to put thet same flange detail in the top flange the same detail as the others but i cant get solidworks to automatically end miter 45 degree cut the flange

[shift1313]

what are you trying to do with this model? typically the flange is for sheet metal parts, that part does not look like it can be created as a sheet metal part.

 

you should be able to draw your flange as a sketch, and use this for your geometry. If its possible and you would like to post or send me the file i can play around with it. What is the part? It almost looks like it will be some sort of hvac setup for a filter

[cedar]

I would agree a miter flange should be smart enough to deal with different angled sides. That would seem occasionally common. I played with this quite a bit and couldn’t come up with a “good” way. I got a somewhat acceptable part with the new “convert to SM”. The relief’s and gaps are a little screwy and I don’t see any controls to change them.

Part is attached.

SM box1.zip

[shift1313]

when you are selecting your edges with the convert feature, there is an option all the way at the bottom to change the reliefs/tears. i think there are 3 or 4 options with a percentage value you can add in. While the parts i design typically dont have the reliefs as large as the software, they are typically driven by the thickness of the material and edge radius you enter.

[cedar]

Those options didn’t change the goofy areas. Here’s a pic of a goofy relief. Covert added relief where it didn’t need it.

 

One great thing about SW sheet metal is that you can unfold bend(s)… then manually fix relief’s by cutting and extruding new pieces… then refold the part. You can generally make the part perfect, folded and flat… even compensate for stretching and development. It might be tedious but in the real world when you need something, you need it.

 

You can alter the flat blank under the “Flat Pattern” feature too. And you can suppress flattened bends to see the part being folded one bend at a time.

[ramsay]

Thanks for the help guys basicly iam just trying to learn solidworks i have been using a 2d cad program in work just now trying to learn solidworks now as i have this in work aswell.

 

Cedar i have tryed to open your zip file it opens up but i cant see any model on the screen is there anything i need to do to it before i open it ?

I have tryed to load zip file but it wont let me my zip file size is to large whats the best way to bring it down in size ?

 

thanks for all your help everyone

[shift1313]

cedar, i hope the next itteration of SW has improved the sheetmetal conversion stuff. since it is the first year for it, I think they still have some bugs. I know when i bend stuff i bend it tight:) You do have to be careful though because you can create some geometry that is next to impossible to make in the real world:-D very nice layout of how to do it for him though.

[JD Mather]

Cedar i have tryed to open your zip file it opens up but i cant see any model on the screen is there anything i need to do to it before i open it ?

I have tryed to load zip file but it wont let me my zip file size is to large whats the best way to bring it down in size ?

 

I haven't downloaded Cedars file but I suspect he has rolled up the feature tree to reduce file size. In your case to reduce the file size for attaching here drag the bar at the end of the feature tree above the features - all features will dissappear from the screen, but they are still there. Then zip and attach.

 

(in the highlight/shading of a model thousands of tiny triangles are created each one a different shade - this is what makes a file size large. the feature description isn't that large in itself)

[cedar]

Ramsay: what JD said. Then type “ctrl-Q” to force a complete rebuild. Rolling up the “end of part” bar makes the file a blank part with the feature instructions… but not the features. I didn’t know about the mesh adding so much to the part size but it makes sense. Part file sizes are huge, but when it is exported to .X_T it’s small. I would guess the .X_T doesn’t save the mesh.

Shift… yeah, the new convert to SM is very intuitive. I actually made the whole part using it, but there were more goofy reliefs, so I added the flanges instead. They built in individual on-screen radius and gap controls, but there is no way to Lap instead of Gap. I tried using “Rip” before “convert” with some success. If they made the software perfect no one would upgrade.