Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
(OP)
I think anyone that has been using SW to do sheet metal design has come to several "best practices" conclusions. I am wanting to start this topic in the hopes that others will share thier practices within our community.
1) Insert your Sheet Metal-Bends feature last, after all of your design work is completed.
2) Use Thin-Extrudes when ever possible when you are modeling long channel-like parts.
3) Features like Counterbores and Countersinks should be placed after the Sheet Metal-Bends, unless you know that these features can be fabricated in the flat pattern of your part (punched or stamped in the flat pattern).
4) When parts are designed for fabrication on a laser cutting machine, include small radii at every interesection of 2 lines (inside and outside corners) so the laser doesn't have to pause to change direction.
1) Insert your Sheet Metal-Bends feature last, after all of your design work is completed.
2) Use Thin-Extrudes when ever possible when you are modeling long channel-like parts.
3) Features like Counterbores and Countersinks should be placed after the Sheet Metal-Bends, unless you know that these features can be fabricated in the flat pattern of your part (punched or stamped in the flat pattern).
4) When parts are designed for fabrication on a laser cutting machine, include small radii at every interesection of 2 lines (inside and outside corners) so the laser doesn't have to pause to change direction.
"Happy the Hare at morning for she is ignorant to the Hunter's waking thoughts."






RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
DimensionalSolutions@Core.com
While I welcome e-mail messages, please post all thread activity in these forums for the benefit of all members.
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
Are you using 2001Plus? If so are you not utilizing the new sheetmetal functionality that allows you to extrude a sketch as a sheetmetal part right from the get go. The reason I ask is I used to be pretty heavy into sheetmetal design up thru SW2000. I now am strickly support and no design. I have not used the new functionality in 2001plus in the real world of design but I have mess around with it and it seems allot easier to manage things like where to put holes and other features.
BBJT CSWP
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
DSI, if you insert the Sheet Metal-Bends first in the Feature Manager, how do you make "sure that the design functions properly"? Or are you saying that you get your basic shape modeled first, insert Bends, then suppress it to add all the fine detail?
"Happy the Hare at morning for she is ignorant to the Hunter's waking thoughts."
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
I think the new icons for sheetmetal show up by default on the sheetmetal toolbar. If not go to cutomize and add them in.
BBJT CSWP
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
"Happy the Hare at morning for she is ignorant to the Hunter's waking thoughts."
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
Yes, I (used to) get the basic shape modeled first, insert Bends, then suppress it to add all the fine detail?
I, too, have not used the sheet metal features in quite some time and did not look into the new functionality of 2001Plus. BBJT, thanks for pointing that out. Like MadMango, I think I just changed my methodology.
DimensionalSolutions@Core.com
While I welcome e-mail messages, please post all thread activity in these forums for the benefit of all members.
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
Therefore, some of the stuff I have done is still done easier (or, easier for me) using the old ways.
Point is, the new features are very slick and works pretty darn well, just don't forget the old ways.....(or until SW deletes them)
Mr. Pickles
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
Is it better (performance wise, not speed) to build your part features using boss-extrudes and cuts, or is it better to use Miter Flanges, Edge Flanges, Hems and Jogs?
"Happy the Hare at morning for she is ignorant to the Hunter's waking thoughts."
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
in terms of performance, i find the sheet metal features much easier to utilize for model revision. and (if you trust the bend tables that SW uses) you can have the flat pattern as a configuration to send to your fabricator.
by the by, the sheet metal features are great for any constant thickness model you need to create as that's the only requirement for SW as far as sheet metal goes. for instance, i use it for glass, insulation, aluminum and steel parts.
cheers,
earl
epillsbury@bensonglobal.com
www.bensonglobal.com
earl patrick
epillsbury@bensonglobal.com
www.bensonglobal.com
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
Much of the "new" sheet metal functionality isn't actually new at all. You could always make features such as jogs and hems. The difference is that they have made it more convenient by automating some of the things which previously had to be done manually or in more than a single step. It is kind of like the new dome tool, which is essentially a macro to create a loft. Overall, regardless of how efficient the model is, I think that the new tools are good because they make it very convenient to create and edit these features. There are probably very few people who make so many sheet metal features that there will be a noticable difference in performance between a part with the new tools and the old.
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
I work for a company where the majority of our product is designed and produced with nothing but sheet metal parts. Out of roughly 500-800 parts for a new project, 90% of them will be sheet metal alone.
One of these days I might actually do a study to see how sheet metal features affect model size and performance, just for my own comfort. I'm sure SW takes system performance and model integrity into consideration.
"The attempt and not the deed confounds us."
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
I 'discovered' this earlier, and Ive used this to make
'parent' parts that are extremely flexible, and can also
get just as tight a joint between faces as if you'd used
the extrude/shell method.
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
Q: Niallc, when you say bend deduction, are you talking about OBD (outside bend deduction) or K-Factor? ODB should have both english and metric values, whereas K-Factor is a number between 0 and 1 therefore no differance between the units.
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
In directory "\ProgramFiles\SolidWorks\Lang\English\Sheetmetal Bend Tables" there is 2 files there. One is the "Base bend table", the other is the metric one. Change the metric ones name to the other ("base bend table") and you get that one when you click "New". Modify your metric "template" if you want...
Hope it helps...
Mr. Pickles
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
I have been working for a sheetmetal manufacturing plant for 8 years now, and somethings SW wont let you do in sheet metal, you can do in the realy world.
So, I guess my answer to the original question is add sheet metal last. One part I got awhile back total floored me. One customer had actually put fillets on all the bends insted of adding the sheetmetal. Then when I went to remove the fillets all the holes were children to the fillets. What a mess!!
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling
After about 3-5 rounds of this, we managed to find a default k-factor of 0.43 that works for >90% of our most common materials. We were able to tzero-in on our tooling, methods of manufacturing, etc. Now, if I specifiy a .020" gap between flange edges, chances are they fall with in our +/-.005 tolerance zone.
"The attempt and not the deed confounds us."
RE: Best Practices: Sheet Metal Modeling