Wiley SolidWorks 2009 Bible Part 12 doc

862 Working with Specialized Functionality Part VII The Stopping Face turns a special color, and so do any faces that are selected in the Faces to Remove selection box. Faces to Remove means that those faces will be cutouts in the sheet metal part. Another aspect of the forming tool is the orientation sketch. The orientation sketch is created auto- matically by using Convert Entities on the Stopping Face. If you have used this function in any of its previous versions, then you know that this latest iteration is far easier to create than before. However, to me, it looks like the orientation sketch has taken a step backwards. The orientation sketch cannot be manually edited, and so for forming tools where footprints are symmetrical, but other features in the tool are not, you cannot tell from the sketch which direction the forming tool should face. Orientation could be managed more easily in earlier versions of forming tools because the placement sketch was just a manually created sketch. When creating a forming tool, you must remember to build in generous draft and fillets, and not to build undercuts into the tool. Also keep in mind that when you have a concave fillet face on the tool, the radius becomes smaller by the thickness of the sheet metal; as a result, you must be care- ful about minimum radius values on forming tools. If there is a concave face on the tool that has a .060-inch radius and the tool is applied to a part with a .060-inch thickness, then the tool will cause an error because it forms a zero radius fillet, which is not allowed. Errors in applied forming tool features cannot be edited or repaired, except by changing forming tool dimensions. Once the forming tool is created, special colors are used for every face on the part. For example, the Stopping Face is a light blue color, Faces to Remove are red, and all of the other faces are yel- low. Figure 29.26 shows the small addition that is made to the FeatureManager when you make a part into a forming tool. This feature did not exist in older versions of the tool. FIGURE 29.26 The FeatureManager of a forming tool part Forming Tool Library The folder that the forming tools are placed into in the Design Library must be designated as a Forming Tool folder. To do this, right-click the folder that contains the forming tools and select Forming Tool Folder (a check mark appears next to this option). 863 Using the Base Flange Method for Sheet Metal Parts 29 Placing a forming tool To place a forming tool on a sheet metal part (forming tools are only allowed to be used on parts with sheet metal features), you can drag the tool from the library and drop it on the face of the sheet metal part. Forming tools are limited to being used on flat faces. From there, you can use the Modify Sketch tool or horizontal and vertical sketch relations to move and rotate the forming tool. It may be difficult to orient it properly without first placing it, seeing what orientation it ends up in, and then reorienting it if necessary because of the limitation men- tioned earlier with not being able to edit the orientation sketch to give it some sort of direction identifier. Configurations cannot be used with forming tools like they can with library features, although you can change dimensions by double-clicking the Forming Tool icon in the sheet metal part FeatureManager. Forming tools are suppressed when the part is flattened. Special techniques with forming tools One application of forming tools that is asked for frequently is the cross break to stiffen a large, flat sheet metal face. SolidWorks has a cosmetic cross break which I discuss next. Cross breaks are clearly not something that SolidWorks can do using straight bends, but a forming tool can do it. You can create the forming tool by lofting a rectangle to a sketch point on a plane slightly offset from the plane of the rectangle. This creates a shallow pyramid shape. Open the part from the material on the CD-ROM for Chapter 29 called Chapter 29 – Cross Break.SLDPRT to exam- ine how this part was made. Figure 29.27 shows the Cross Break tool applied to a sheet metal part. FIGURE 29.27 The Cross Break tool applied to a part 864 Working with Specialized Functionality Part VII Cross Breaks Using a forming tool to create a cross break is overkill. You may need to do it if you need to actually show the indented geometry. In SolidWorks 2009 a cosmetic cross break feature has been added. This feature enables you to specify the radius, angle, and direction used to create the cross break. It does not actually change the part geometry at all, but it does add two curve-like display entities. When you place a Cross Break feature, you have the option to edit the sketch profile that creates the cross. This sketch has two intersecting lines. You cannot add more lines; the feature will fail if you have more than two lines in the sketch. (For example, if you wanted to put three breaks across a hexagonal face, the software will not allow this.) The lines do not have to end at a corner, but they do have to end at an edge. If the lines extend past or fall short of an edge, the feature will dis- play a red X error icon, but it still creates the break lines where the sketch lines are. Figure 29.28 shows the Cross Break PropertyManager and a part to which a Cross Break was applied. Notice that you can see the break lines through the solid, much like curves or cosmetic threads. The Cross Break feature shows up in the FeatureManager just like any other feature, not like a cos- metic thread, which is the only other entity in the software that the Cross Break much resembles. FIGURE 29.28 Creating a Cross Break Form across bends A second special technique is a gusset or a form that goes across bends. This can be adapted in many ways, but it is shown here going across two bends. I cannot confirm the practicality of actu- ally manufacturing something like this, but I have seen it done. 865 Using the Base Flange Method for Sheet Metal Parts 29 The technique used here is to call the single long flat face of the forming tool the Stopping Face. The vertical faces on the ends and the fillet faces must be selected in the Faces to Remove selection box. The fillets of the outside of the forming tool also have to match the bends of the sheet metal part exactly. You may need to edit this part each time you use it, unless it is applied to parts with bends of the same size and separated by the same distance. When you place the tool on the sheet metal part, you must place it accurately from side to side to get everything to work out properly. This part is in the same location as the Cross Break file, and is called Chapter 29 – Form Across Bends.SLDPRT. Figure 29.29 shows the tool and a part to which it has been applied. FIGURE 29.29 Forming across bends Faces to remove (both ends) Stopping face 866 Working with Specialized Functionality Part VII Lofted Bends feature The Lofted Bends feature enables you to create transitions between two profiles. The range of func- tionality available through the Loft feature is not available with Lofted Bends; it is limited to two profiles with no end conditions or guide curves. Both profiles also need to be open contours, in order to allow the sheet metal to unfold. Lofted Bends is not part of the Base Flange method, but it is part of the newer set of sheet metal tools available in SolidWorks. Figure 29.30 shows what is probably the most common application of this feature. The bend lines shown must be established in the PropertyManager when you create or edit the feature. Bend Lines are only an option if both profiles have the same number of straight lines. For example, if one of the profiles is a circle instead of a rectangle with very large fillets, then the Bend Lines options are not available in the PropertyManager. FIGURE 29.30 The Lofted Bends PropertyManager, a sample, and a flat pattern with bend lines 867 Using the Base Flange Method for Sheet Metal Parts 29 Like the forming tools, you can also use Lofted Bends in situations for which they were probably not intended. Figure 29.31 shows how lofting between 3D curves can also create shapes that can be flattened in SolidWorks. In this case, a couple of intermediate steps were required to get to the 3D curves, which involve surface features. FIGURE 29.31 Using 3D curves with Lofted Bends to create flattenable complex shapes ON the CD-ROM ON the CD-ROM This part is included on the CD-ROM with the name Chapter 29 – wrap.sldprt. Unfold and Fold features Unfold is a feature that unfolds selected bends temporarily. It is typically used in conjunction with a Fold feature to re-fold the bends. This combination is used to apply a feature that must be applied to the flat pattern; for example, a hole that spans across a bend. Figure 29.32 shows the FeatureManager of a part where this combination has been applied, as well as the part itself, show- ing the bend across a hole, and the PropertyManager, which is the same for both features. Both the Unfold and Fold features make it easy to select the bends without zooming in, even for small bends. A filter is placed on the cursor when the command is active, which allows only bends to be selected. The Collect All Bends option also becomes available. This feature also requires that you select a stationary face to hold still while the rest of the model moves during the unfolding and folding process. 868 Working with Specialized Functionality Part VII FIGURE 29.32 Applying the Unfold and Fold features Flatten command The Flatten command is different from the Unfold feature in a few important ways. First, Flatten is not a feature; it is just a command that unsuppresses the normally suppressed Flat Pattern feature. The Flat Pattern feature keeps track of the bend lines for a part. The individual bends are listed under the Flat Pattern feature, and when the feature is unsuppressed, the individual bends can be suppressed. This enables you to establish configurations that can show bend processing order on the drawing or in an assembly. You can duplicate the Flatten command by manually suppressing or unsuppressing the Flat Pattern feature. Tutorial: Using the Base Flange Sheet Metal Method SolidWorks Base Flange method sheet metal is fun and easy to use as you will see in this tutorial: 1. Open a new part using a special sheet metal template if one is available. 2. On the Top plane, draw a rectangle centered on the Origin, 14 inches in X by 12 inches in Y (or Z). 3. Initiate the Base Flange tool, accept the default thickness of .029 inches, and change the K-Factor to .43. Notice that the default inside bend radius is not shown. This setting is made in the Sheet Metal feature that is placed before the Base Flange feature in the FeatureManager. 869 Using the Base Flange Method for Sheet Metal Parts 29 4. After the Base Flange has been created, edit the Sheet Metal feature, and change the default bend radius to .050 inches. 5. Click one of the 14-inch edges and then select the Line tool from the Sketch toolbar. This is a shortcut to creating a plane perpendicular to the end of the edge and opening a new sketch on the plane. This is useful in other situations in addition to working with sheet metal. Draw a sketch similar to that shown in Figure 29.33. The arc overrides the default inside bend radius setting, and directly controls that particular bend. FIGURE 29.33 The sketch to start a Miter Flange 6. With the sketch still active, press the Miter Flange button on the Sheet Metal tool- bar. Use the settings shown in the image to the right in Figure 29.34. Select three edges as shown. Remember to select the edges on the same side of the Base Flange. In particu- lar, notice the Start/End Offset settings. Click OK when you are satisfied with the settings. 7. Select the remaining edge that is not touched by the Miter Flange, and click the Edge Flange tool on the Sheet Metal toolbar. Click the top point of one end of the Miter Flange to establish the flange length, using the Up To Vertex end condition. 8. Press the Edit Flange Profile button in the PropertyManager, and manually pull the sketch back from the ends of the flange. Add dimensions to make the flange 3 inches from the corner on the left side, and 5 inches from the corner on the right side, as shown in Figure 29.35; otherwise, use the default settings for the flange. Click OK to accept the feature when you are satisfied with the settings. 870 Working with Specialized Functionality Part VII FIGURE 29.34 Specifying the Miter Flange settings FIGURE 29.35 Creating an Edge Flange 9. Select the inside edge of the top of the Edge Flange that you have just created, and initiate a Hem feature. Use the settings Material Inside, Closed Hem, with a length of .25 inches, and make the material go toward the inside of the box. The settings and pre- view of the feature are shown in Figure 29.36. 10. Create a second Edge Flange the same height as the first, just to the right of the first flange, as seen from the point of view used in Figure 29.35. Edit the flange profile and pull the new flange away from the existing flange. Add a dimension to make the new flange 2 inches wide. Click OK when you are satisfied with the settings. [...]... places a Weldment placeholder in the FeatureManager This placeholder tells SolidWorks that this part is a special weldment part, much in the way that the Sheet Metal feature in sheet metal parts is a placeholder, and denotes a special part type The Weldment feature moves to the top of the tree, regardless of when it is created in the part history If you do not create a Weldment feature manually, then one... conical rolled sheet metal parts 875 IN THIS CHAPTER Architecture of Insert Bends Making sheet metal from a generic model Working with imported geometry Making rolled conical parts Mixing methods Tutorial: Working with the Insert Bends method for sheet metal parts Part VII Working with Specialized Functionality Architecture of Insert Bends In Chapter 29, I showed that a part created with the Base Flange... the 2009 release of the software, SolidWorks allows you to have angled faces on side edges, and will maintain the angle when it flattens the part In previous versions, angles on side faces 877 30 Part VII Working with Specialized Functionality cause the Flat Pattern feature to fail Even a cut that does not use the Normal Cut option and creates faces that are not perpendicular to the main face of the part. .. fully or partially deconstruct the model by removing bend faces as fillets While FeatureWorks is not covered in this book, the technique may be useful when editing imported parts with overall prismatic geometry that is common to sheet metal parts When a sheet metal part is imported, whether it meets the requirements immediately or must be edited in one way or another, to make a sheet metal part of it,... Base Flange method features are allowed on this type of part NOTE 883 30 Part VII Working with Specialized Functionality FIGURE 30.7 Selecting a straight edge for a conical part Select one of these edges in the Fixed Face/edge selection box 884 Using the Insert Bends Method for Sheet Metal Parts Mixing Methods If you use the Insert Bend tool on a part, you can still use the more advanced tools available... opposite from one another 4 Shell out the part to 050 inches, selecting the large face on the side where the draft has been applied The part should now look like Figure 30.8 FIGURE 30.8 The part as of Step 4 885 30 Part VII Working with Specialized Functionality 5 Use the Rip feature to rip out the four corners Allow the Rip to rip all corners in both directions The part should now look like Figure 30.9... the Chapter 29 – Cross Break part from the folder and onto the big flat face of the sheet metal part You will be put into a sketch that looks like Figure 29.38 16 Once you have dropped the feature into the sketch, drag the Origin of the sketch onto the Origin of the part, and then click Finish Notice that the cross break is in the middle of the part, but is too small 871 29 Part VII Working with Specialized... Bends features fail If a thickness face is not perpendicular to the main face of the part, then the software simply forces the situation, making the face perpendicular to the main face Normal Cut If a Cut feature is placed before the Sheet Metal feature, then as far as SolidWorks is concerned, the part is not a sheet metal part However, if the cut feature is created after the Sheet Metal feature, then the... full 360 degrees, as there must be a gap Sheet metal parts are not created by stretching the material (except for Forming Tools) When creating a rolled sheet metal part, a flat face cannot be selected to remain fixed when the part is flattened Instead, you can use a straight edge along the revolve gap, as shown in Figure 30.7 When a conical sheet metal part is created, it does not receive the Flat Pattern... a sheet metal part when you were done Of course, this same advantage frequently turned out to be a disadvantage, because the standard features do not have any specialized sheet metal functionality Today, the Insert Bends method is used for specific situations For example, it is used for parts that have been created as generic SolidWorks models and that need to be flattened, imported parts that need . it is used for parts that have been created as generic SolidWorks models and that need to be flattened, imported parts that need to be flattened, and coni- cal rolled sheet metal parts. IN THIS. conical parts Mixing methods Tutorial: Working with the Insert Bends method for sheet metal parts Using the Insert Bends Method for Sheet Metal Parts 876 Working with Specialized Functionality Part. tool also have to match the bends of the sheet metal part exactly. You may need to edit this part each time you use it, unless it is applied to parts with bends of the same size and separated by