solid to sheet metal 1

[crizzo]

I'd like to design a part as a solid, and then seperate EACH face into sheet metal. For easier visualization, I'll tell ya it's gonna be a motorcycle swingarm.

I'm a bit familar with SW sheetmetal, but am getting stuck here. I don't really have and "traditional" bends, jogs, hems, etc. etc. I'm just going to cut (laser) each face as a seperate "part", lightly form, and then weld together all joints/edges together. Basic hollowform construction. Not even sure if I should be even designing in sw sheetmetal, or just an assembly! Although I do have to flatten all curved panels to get them laser'd.

oh, I think it will be somewhat easier because I'm planning no compound bends, just "calculatable" curves that you can rolled. No hammering or english wheel on this one.

thx ahead of time, you all are always incredibly helpful.

 

[ctopher]

Can you show a pic of the part you want to flatten?

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Why not just create each part as a separate & individual piece/part from the begining?


Helpful SW websites FAQ559-520
How to get answers to your SW questions FAQ559-1091

 

[bvanhiel]

crizzo,

I've done exactly what you are describing. It's pretty easy.

1) Create solid "master" part in the shape of the completed weldment
2) Create "slave" parts by using insert->part in a new model and selecting your "master"
3) Shell your slave parts, removing the faces you don't want
4) Convert your slave parts to sheetmetal
5) Reassemble your slave parts in a new assembly to check. Face offsets inserted before the shell can help quickly tailor the fits.

-b

 

[crizzo]

bvanhiel,

If I follow you correctly, I'll use my master part (the finished weldment) in each component part as a template of sorts.

So if I have 10 faces, I'll have 10 seperate .sldprt's, with the master in each one but shelled differently.

thanks

 

[bvanhiel]

crizzo,

Correct. Once you've created "slave1.sldprt" with the master and shell, you can copy it to "slave2...", etc and then just edit which faces you are removing in the shell.

-b

 

[ng89]

I was going to suggest the exact same method as bvanhiel.

Also, it seems like they added multibody functionality to the sheet metal capabilities in SolidWorks a release or two ago. I've never tried it, and I could be completely wrong, but it might be worth looking into.

 

[TheTick]

It doesn't sound like you need SW sheetmetal to do what you want. With no bends, there's no advantage to using SW sheetmetal. Parts can be laser cut from plain SW, IGE, parasolid, etc.

You can "convert" a part to sheet metal at almost any point in the design, as long as the part is uniform thickness and has no compound or lofted bends. SW sheetmetal will even recognize and convert square corners to bends.

I could be the world's greatest underachiever, if I could just learn to apply myself.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

-SolidWorks API VB programming help

 

[bvanhiel]

TheTick,

I think some of his faces have one-directional curvature and need to be flattened. Otherwise you could do it as a multibody.

-b

 

[ctopher]

Some good tips for SW sheetmetal:

http://www.sheetmetaldesign.com/Cad-SolidWorks/index.htm

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[crizzo]

Yes there are some curved faces that need to be flattened. Thanks for the link to those nice examples.

It's funny there are so many nifty sheet metal tools and features, which one tends to associate with true "sheet metal" .025-.125 thicknesses and ideology. However alot of the heavier fabrication industry uses similar principals and features in combination with welding and forming to create features. aka shipbuilding, truck frames, containers, etc. etc.

Sure it can be done in SW (like you all have just helped me figure out), but not quite as simple as "jog, bend, rip, etc."

 

[ctopher]

This also may help.

http://www.sheetmetalguy.com/swsmg01.htm

Lot's of this stuff on eBay too.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 05
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)
FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716