Need help finding which direction to take.

[alitahl]

Hello again all,

I am tasked with reverse engineering control arms for utvs. What I basically need to do is reverse engineer the arms, draw them in SW, and then create flat pattern dxfs, I will be making these in sheet metal. Here is a example picture of a stock arm that would be reverse engineered.

So these tube arms will be basically boxed sheet metal, like a 3D puzzle.

What I am curious about is the best way to go about this, I was looking at the weldment function, but I'm not sure that will work out. So I think just making a 3D drawing into a assembly. And then I need to make each piece, which will be bent in the assembly into a flat piece. If that makes sense.

Any other Ideas?

Thank you.

 

[ctopher]

Have you tried the weldment function? That is how I would do it.
You can create each tube solid and convert to sheetmetal, then make the assy.

Chris, CSWA
SolidWorks 14
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[ctopher]

This video may help: Link

Chris, CSWA
SolidWorks 14
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[alitahl]

Wow, thank you Ctopher. This is perfect, I will play around with this and try and get it to work!