Formed opposite parts

[stThree]

What is the preferred method for doing a formed opposite part? In previous versions of NX, when flat patterns were derived using forming/flattening we would draw our sheet metal part and then mirror it through a plane. We would then put a flat pattern on both bodies. Using part families we would add a mirror_body column and use "YES" and "NO" to make our seperate parts. Our NC programming group could open either part and the flat pattern was there without any problems. Now that we are on NX 7.5 and using Insert->Flat Pattern for our flat patterns this process does not work. The formed opposite part becomes an unparameterized body and the flat pattern feature disappears when that specific part is made. How do we get a usable flat pattern on our formed opposite parts because apparently our old way of doing things does not work anymore?

Thanks.

Steve
NX 7.5.5.4

 

[JohnRBaker]

While this won't help you here, we have enhanced NX Sheet Metal for NX 9.0 by adding the ability to perform the Mirror Body operation while in the Sheet Metal module thus resulting in models which can be flattened without any additional steps, etc.

Now as for NX 7.5, have you tried, after leaving NX Sheet Metal and going back to Modeling, to create your mirrored copy using 'Mirror Body'? Then return to NX Sheet Metal and use the 'Convert to Sheetmetal' function to get a model which will understand that it's sheet metal, meaning that you can now create a flat pattern of it?

But that being said, unless I'm missing something here, can't you simply use the Flat Pattern layout for the original, non-mirrored body, and just manufacture it replacing the Bend = Up operations with Bend = Down ones?

As for my suggestion in the second paragraph, see the attached model.

As for my comment in the third paragraph, when you open the part file, go to...

View -> Layout -> Open..

...and select 'LAY1' and hit OK and you will see both flat patterns where you can observe that if all you did was reverse the directions of the Bends of the first flat pattern, it would give you the same result as what the second one would have given you.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[stThree]

John,

I understand what you are saying about the flat pattern being the same, our issue arises from how our manufacturing department works. They would just go and get the actual file of the part that was ordered and look for the flat pattern. We use mirror body instead of reversing the bends because then we are assured that features are where they need to be. Sometimes changing bend directions causes features to mysteriously move because of how the user constrained them.

It could be that we need to retrain our NC programmers but they will not like that since we cut and bend sheet metal all day and they won't want to trace back the part to find the right flat pattern. We do a lot of charted parts so the drawing isn't always the best place to get the correct flat pattern.

I have attached your part changed to how we would set it up. If you verify the bend_opp child you will see the flat pattern disappears.

Thanks for you response.

Steve
NX 7.5.5.4

 

[capnhook]

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Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community..

[green]To the Toolmaker, your nice little cartoon drawing of your glass looks cool, but your solid model sucks. Do you want me to fix it, or are you going to take all week to get it back to me so I can get some work done?[/green]

 

[JohnRBaker]

I'm NOT talking about flipping the direction of the Bends in the Part model itself, but rather just taking the 2D layout and noting the changed Bend directions.

But that being said, I did look at your model and it works fine for me, using NX 7.5.5.4. Granted, when you place the family member you get an error message stating that one of the Flat Patterns was deleted, but it's the one for the original, non-mirrored, model. The 2D Flat Pattern for the 'Bend-opp.prt' is perfectly all right.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[stThree]

That is odd because I lose everything. There must be a setting somewhere, we are missing. I have attached an image of my part navigator just so you know I am not making it up.

Steve
NX 7.5.5.4

 

[JohnRBaker]

Well, here's what my Part Navigator looks like...

The deleted Flat-Pattern is the one linked to the original, non-mirrored, model.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[stThree]

John, now you just have me confused. I guess I need to start digging into the bowels of our setup to try and figure out why it works differently for us. Thanks for the help though, I do appreciate it.

Steve
NX 7.5.5.4