Sheet metal bend angle in design table

[SilasH]

I have a sheet metal part with a lot of bends in it, and I want to make an animation demonstrating how it's bent. For one set of bends I was able to make design table driven configurations increment the bend angle. However, for some reason it won't do it for the second set of bends. It tells me that "D4@SketchBend20" is an invalid dimension name, exiting table without model update. If I create the configurations manually and change the angle of the bends, then it changes it in all the configurations. Is there a step I did the first time through that I'm missing now?

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Can you change the "D4@SketchBend20" manually?

I've found it easiest to manually create at least two configs having all the variables set at different values, and then use the Auto create option when creating the DT.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Are you selecting the dimensions in the graphics area? (As opposed to the FM tree)

Are you remembering to select the This configuration only option?

Did you make a typo' in the "D4@SketchBend20" parameter in the DT or was it auto-created?

An alternative may be to use the Unfold tool to 'flatten' the sheet, and then Fold each bend in sequence. A config can be made at each stage. This would not be as smooth a transition of bending as the incremental bends via a DT, but would show the sequence.

 

[SilasH]

I'm working on it some more now, and from what it seems, while the Sketched Bend3 was unsuppressed (and reflected that way in the model), all the SketchBends within it in the design tree were suppressed. Once I unsuppressed them, I was able to modify the dimension by double clicking on it. It still didn't want to recognize it in the design table for some reason, but I could select "This Configuration only" and get it to match my design intent. Can't say that I entirely understand why SW is behaving this way, but I got it to do what I wanted.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Without seeing the model, it's next to impossible to know what is happening regarding the SketchBend suppression states.

Just curious, why are you using the sketched bend method to create the part?

 

[SilasH]

In the design tree, there are Sketched BendN features, where N is 1, 2, and 3. I can expand each of those to show however many of SketchBendXX. I used multiple sketched bends to use a mixture of bend angles. For some reason, all the SketchBendXX were all suppressed under the Sketched Bend3, which wouldn't allow me to edit except by double clicking in the design tree (which was not configuration specific).

Essentially the part is a long U shape of sheet metal with certain notches in it to allow it to be bent into an arc. It has about thirty of these bends in it, and it seemed like a sketched bend was the easiest way to do it. The rebuild time is fairly high, though, and if there's a more effective way to create it, that'd be good to know.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Try this;

http://www.mooload.com/new/file.php?file=files/050207/1170704382/Curved+Channel+CBL.SLDPRT

 

[SilasH]

I can't get it to download. It's probably a network thing here, it's pretty stringent.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Sometimes (often) MooLoad acts up. You may have to try several times.

Try this one;

http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=278938

 

[SilasH]

Hmm, interesting. The flat pattern is very similar to what I ended up with (though the cuts on mine had a rounded end to match our tooling). On mine the part is designed to be a little bit more shapeable. For instance, the configuration I have it set up in is more like an ellipse. Still, definitely some food for thought. Thanks!

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

The Corner Reliefs can be controlled by options in the SM manager.

The basic shape can be whatever you need. I just used the Polygon tool to produce a multi-faceted shape as a quick example.