Calculating Kerf cuts for bending wood/mdf
Calculating Kerf cuts for bending wood/mdf
(OP)
Howdy folks,
I'm hoping there is a way to leverage SW to help with calculating the location and number of kerf cuts for bending some MDF panels. The cabinet shown will be CNC cut, and I will use the horizontal braces to guide the curves of the panels (left and right sides). An example of what I mean by kerfing can be found here.
The curved are created with splines, and as such the only read I can get on them is the minimum radius. With constant arcs, I could figure it out using this formula. With splines it isn't so simple. And because these curves vary from one design to the next, I'd prefer to not experiment each time to find the minimum kerf count and their placement for each version.
I'm looking for ideas. Even long-shot simple ones that you think I may have considered already!
Some pictures of the drawing, and curvature.



I'm hoping there is a way to leverage SW to help with calculating the location and number of kerf cuts for bending some MDF panels. The cabinet shown will be CNC cut, and I will use the horizontal braces to guide the curves of the panels (left and right sides). An example of what I mean by kerfing can be found here.
The curved are created with splines, and as such the only read I can get on them is the minimum radius. With constant arcs, I could figure it out using this formula. With splines it isn't so simple. And because these curves vary from one design to the next, I'd prefer to not experiment each time to find the minimum kerf count and their placement for each version.
I'm looking for ideas. Even long-shot simple ones that you think I may have considered already!
Some pictures of the drawing, and curvature.






RE: Calculating Kerf cuts for bending wood/mdf
Dan
www.eltronresearch.com
Dan's Blog
RE: Calculating Kerf cuts for bending wood/mdf
Essentially it is plywood where all of the plys are layered such that their grain directions are aligned... instead of crossed.
-Dustin
Professional Engineer
Pretty good with SolidWorks
RE: Calculating Kerf cuts for bending wood/mdf
Dan
www.eltronresearch.com
Dan's Blog
RE: Calculating Kerf cuts for bending wood/mdf
FWIW, this part is 1" thick.
I assume to flatten, I would need to convert to sheet metal, yes?
RE: Calculating Kerf cuts for bending wood/mdf
Rob Stupplebeen
https://sites.google.com/site/robertkstupplebeen/
RE: Calculating Kerf cuts for bending wood/mdf
With an arbitrary 7/8" depth of cut, this is the result on a 16" OD, 14" ID circle. There's probably no getting around a test to see how smooth the result is.
I'm going to hunt and peck a little more. I'm still unclear as to how I would create this first as a flat stock and then bend to the shape. My current approach is to draw the curve in 2D and extrude upward.
RE: Calculating Kerf cuts for bending wood/mdf
Dan
www.eltronresearch.com
Dan's Blog
RE: Calculating Kerf cuts for bending wood/mdf
Unfortunately I swapped the radius for diameter in the above example.
RE: Calculating Kerf cuts for bending wood/mdf