Flatten a contoured surface
Flatten a contoured surface
(OP)
Using NX 7.5:
We have a need to take a surface that is contoured and flatten it out to create a flat blank. The solid looks like a bannana with a half twist along the length. So we want to split the solid in half lengthwise (we've already done that) and then project the resulting half outside surface onto a plane to create the outline of the flat bar blank we would need to create this part. Is there a tool, perhaps in the sheetmetal module, that is designed to do this? We don't have a sheet metal license but could look into getting it, or some other module, if there is a tool that will easily accomplish this.
Perhaps this could also be done accurately by projecting edge curves. I'm asking this question on behalf of another Engineer here so haven't looked into this in any depth myself yet.
Thanks for any help.
We have a need to take a surface that is contoured and flatten it out to create a flat blank. The solid looks like a bannana with a half twist along the length. So we want to split the solid in half lengthwise (we've already done that) and then project the resulting half outside surface onto a plane to create the outline of the flat bar blank we would need to create this part. Is there a tool, perhaps in the sheetmetal module, that is designed to do this? We don't have a sheet metal license but could look into getting it, or some other module, if there is a tool that will easily accomplish this.
Perhaps this could also be done accurately by projecting edge curves. I'm asking this question on behalf of another Engineer here so haven't looked into this in any depth myself yet.
Thanks for any help.





RE: Flatten a contoured surface
Anthony Galante

Senior Support Engineer
NX4.0.4MP10, NX5.0.0->5.0.6, NX6.0.0->NX6.0.5, NX7.0.0->NX7.0.1 & NX7.5.0.32-> NX7.5.4.4, Beta NX8.0.0.23
RE: Flatten a contoured surface
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
http://www.plmworld.com/museum/
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Flatten a contoured surface
Thanks for the help.
RE: Flatten a contoured surface
RE: Flatten a contoured surface
I suppose I could do another global shaping operation on the new surface and that might lay it down the rest of the way.
Never used that function before. There are several options and I believe I used "Variable Offset" instead of "Stretch" or "Overcrown". This took a LONG time to calculate so I'm not inclined to play around with it too much on this machine. Can anyone give a rough description of how these different options effect the output?
Thanks for that suggestion. Never would have thought of that.
RE: Flatten a contoured surface
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
http://www.plmworld.com/museum/
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.