Lofted Sheetmetal Part ??
Lofted Sheetmetal Part ??
(OP)
I have a .030" thick part made with a loft along most of its curved length. My part looks like this:
Take a sheet metal ruler hold it by both ends and bow it into an arc, then twist one end slightly.
I need to be able to unfold this part to establish the flatblank shape. Is there a way to loft a sheetmetal part? Or is there some other totally different approach?
Take a sheet metal ruler hold it by both ends and bow it into an arc, then twist one end slightly.
I need to be able to unfold this part to establish the flatblank shape. Is there a way to loft a sheetmetal part? Or is there some other totally different approach?
Tom Malinski
Sr Design Engineer
OKay Industries
New Britain CT






RE: Lofted Sheetmetal Part ??
Tom Malinski
Sr Design Engineer
OKay Industries
New Britain CT
RE: Lofted Sheetmetal Part ??
Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091
RE: Lofted Sheetmetal Part ??
My part is .030 thick, When I make a drawing of the part and offset the inside geometry to the center of the material thickness (.015) and measure its overall length it should be the same as the flat pattern with .5 K factor... but my flat pattern is .010 shorter, thats a mile for this little part. Just for the heck of it I changed the K factor to .3 but hte flat pattern did not change. Is there a possibility that a lofted sheetmetal part does not unfold correctly because the bend is part of the loft geometry rather than an actual sheetmetal bend? If so, where is the flat pattern length comming from?
Thanks for any help in advance...
Tom Malinski
Sr Design Engineer
OKay Industries
New Britain CT
RE: Lofted Sheetmetal Part ??
Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091
RE: Lofted Sheetmetal Part ??
Tom Malinski
Sr Design Engineer
OKay Industries
New Britain CT
RE: Lofted Sheetmetal Part ??
Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091
RE: Lofted Sheetmetal Part ??
In my history tree, I RMB on the Sheetmetal Icon / Edit Feature and change the K-Fator value, then go to my drawing and update the view. But the Flat pattern does not change!!!
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Tom Malinski
Sr Design Engineer
OKay Industries
New Britain CT
RE: Lofted Sheetmetal Part ??
eg. If the inside surface size of the formed loft is critical, make the part very thin (say .001" or less) so that the outer & inner surface sizes are almost the same.
I'm not sue if that actually helps in your case though.
Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091
RE: Lofted Sheetmetal Part ??
Thanks for your help...
Tom Malinski
Sr Design Engineer
OKay Industries
New Britain CT
RE: Lofted Sheetmetal Part ??
Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091