Do you use sheetmetal much 1

[Gigatt]

I have been using Solidworks for 3 years.
I never use the sheetmatal feature. 2 questions.
Is it worth it to use?
What is the best way to teach myself how to use it?

Your advice is appreciated.
Gigatt

 

[ctopher]

Do a search here. There are links to tutorials. It's not hard to learn yourself.
Is it worth it? Depending on your designs.
Sometimes it is easier to make some parts using SM because some parts make up a lot of features or an assy to make the part, SM can do a lot of it together.
For example, I needed to make a part weave in and out between other parts stacked on each other. Instead of making each flat piece and the bends separate, I used SM. Much better. I think it is worth learning and using.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 06-21-05)

 

[MadMango]

The products I design are comprised of about 80% sheet metal components, so I use it constantly. I never get to use the surfacing capabilities of SW.

But Chris is right, it's worth is subjective to the end user and desired results. On how to use it, do the tutorials that came with your seat of SW as a good primer. Once you have the basics down, constant application of those features will make you better.

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[ScottinSD]

I use sheetmetal about 30% of the time. It is very useful for basic prismatic sheetmetal parts. It can also be tricked into doing seemingly simple parts that are in fact difficult to model (like a round plate with holes cut in it that is then rolled such that it will fit on the face of a large cylinder, impossible to model with sheetmetal).

Sheetmetal is not perfect, but it is one of the reasons I bought SolidWorks.

Good luck!

Scott in San Diego

 

[smcadman]

We use sheet metal almost daily. We have some clients who send us there drawings, and ALL of their sheet metal parts are drawn as solids using extruded boss/base. Many times there are interference problems because they do not take into account the radius in bends. We redraw them before production because they do not want to send us the files. We also use the sheet metal gauge tables in SW06 for consistency in our parts. Use the online sheet metal tutorial included with SW to get you started.

Another thing to consider is that if you learn how to use the sheet metal functions now, you will have another skill under your belt. This can aid in future employment also.

Flores
SW06 SP4.1

 

[Gigatt]

Thank you all.
This forum has been a wonderful source for me.

I was wondering if it was a good tool for developing Flat blank sizes or unfolding a piece part?

Gigatt
SW06

 

[Areva]

We design metal cases and chassis that fit into 19” racks. Our fabrication shop requires flat state dimensioned drawings. So if it’s metal it gets modeled using the sheet metal feature tools. This allows us to generate flat state drawings. It works a treat.

Eddy

 

[MadMango]

We do all of our sheet metal work in-house. Flats are generated from the sheet metal models for our laser and Amada punches.

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

"Is it worth it to use?
Generally speaking yes. I find it much easier than the old method, (create solid, rip corners, add bends) but that still has its uses in some cases.

"What is the best way to teach myself how to use it?
Work through the tutorials several times until you have memorised the functions, then get actual sheet metal parts & practice modelling them.

"I was wondering if it was a good tool for developing Flat blank sizes or unfolding a piece part?
It is very good for normal SM parts, but not as good for Lofted Bend parts. Remember though, the actual formed parts will only be accurate if you and the fab shop making them use the same bend rads & K-factors.


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