1B Integrated Design Project

Hints on the use of Pro-Engineer for Sheet Metal Design

(based on ProE version ildfire !"# 1 Philoso$h%
As was demonstrated in the final CAD sessions of part 1A, Pro-engineer has an application dedicated to sheet metal components, with the ability to flip between the folded component and the flat pattern (usually referred to as the development) as cut out prior to bending !ost modern cutting machines, whether using punches, laser beams or water "ets, can accept D#$ files, as produced by many CAD pac%ages, as the main instruction input, thus ma%ing savings of time and effort while decreasing opportunities for error &he following notes are a guide to the use of Pro-engineer in the 'DP (hilst modelling your design does re)uire some investment of time, it will more than repay this when cutting out and modifying your chassis and other components as well as providing the power to chec% for interferences and to animate mechanisms As designers, it is important to remember that the primary purpose of producing a drawing or a model is to provide a statement of your re)uirement (hilst a good designer will design for a method of manufacture, the role of a drawing as a set of manufacturing instructions is secondary, in that manufacturing processes evolve and s%illed technicians will have their own techni)ues (hen modelling a folded sheet metal component, your re)uirement is for the fully folded item and so this is what should be modelled &he power of Pro* can then be employed to derive the flat development for cutting out and subse)uent bending

Example - Production of a simple bracket

+aunch Pro* in the normal way, start a new model and immediately change the APP+'CA&',- to Sheetmetal. (Confirm this and the icons on the right hand edge of the model window will change ) .ntil a first wall is present the only icon highlighted as available is the /th from top &his has a fly-out menu which includes the options0 Create Unattached Flat Wall and Create Unattached Extruded Wall. &he first allows the modelling of a flat panel, of any shape, which may be subse)uently bent up &his would, however, be contrary to the stated principle of 1draw the re)uirement2 as it would not afford control of the final dimensions of the folded component Any changes to the material thic%ness or bend allowance would cause variations to overall dimensions .sing the option of Create Unattached Extruded Wall allows the bent component to be drawn and final, overall dimensions to be fi3ed 4elect this icon and accept defaults and select a s%etching plane 5emember that it is the edge view of the component being drawn, complete with bends of suitable radii &he following diagram shows the s%etch of a 162 brac%et

4 P &ebboth

4eptember 788/

-ote that the s%etch consists of a single line which is hickened via the 5!9 !*-. Direction of thic%ening and material thic%ness are selected, whilst bend radii have previously been chosen to be internal or e3ternal depending on thic%ening direction

-ote that after thic%ening, dimensions can be re-defined to include material thic%ness, as in the e3ample below, where overall length is now controlled as well as the internal bend radii made e)ual

&he s%etch can now be accepted by clic%ing on the tic% icon and with a blind e3trusion depth specified the folded brac%et produced as shown below

! Starting the &hassis

(hilst comple3 parts can be built up by creating an unattached wall and subse)uently attaching e3tra features to it, it is usually )uic%er and simpler to start off with a solid e3trusion when designing something li%e a chassis with multiple bends &he recommended procedure is described below, using an e3ample to illustrate the various stages

!'1 Shelling fro( solid (odel

Draw your chassis design in standard pro-e as a solid 1bric%2 : see $igure 1 5emember to ma%e sensible choices of datum plane positions : you will be pleased you did later 4elect, under 1APP+'CA&',-42, the sheet metal option and from the 4!& C,-;*5& menu that appears choose shell. 't is now necessary to select which faces of the solid will be removed, bearing in mind that one piece of material from the flat pattern cannot be in two places at once ,nce surface choices are complete you will be as%ed for the material thic%ness &he sheet steel used for 'DP construction is 8 <mm $igure 7 shows the resulting shell

$igure 1

$igure 7

!'! Sheet (etal conversion !.!." #ippin$

&he shell in $igure 7 does not yet represent a piece of bent sheet metal, as it is not yet obvious which edges are folded and which are not continuous (1ripped2) 4elect the 1create con%ersion feature (the top icon to right of model screen) and the 4!& C,-;*54',- dialogue bo3 will appear (see $igure =) with all five feature types shown as 1optional2

$igure = >ighlight Ed$e #ip and &efine and select the edges that will be discontinuous >ighlight 'ends and &efine and select all edges to be formed by bending 4electing &one Sets results in default radii being applied from part bend table &he actual bend radius achieved on the hand bender in the wor%shop, with this material, is 1 <mm (internal) >ighlight 'ends and &efine once more and choose Select (ll and &one, whereupon a further dialogue bo3 15*D*$'-* 9*-D 4*&&'-?42 appears (see $igure /) >ighlight #adius and &efine, select Enter )alue and ensure that 1 < is set as internal radius

$igure /

!.!.! 'end &efinition

&he bend properties of the 'DP materials are shown in the following diagram -ote that the Aluminium alloy is 1 @mm thic% and that an internal bend radius of 1 A is achieved

!.!.* Flat Pattern

't should now be possible to produce a development of the model by selecting Create Flat Pattern icon from the lower right edge of model display screen Chec% that the model is now flat, by selecting any saved view other than &op or 9ottom Any edges still folded indicate that not enough edge rips were selected Chec% also that a consistent bend allowance of = 1 has been allocated (note that the easiest way of doing this is by starting a drawing file of your chassis and showing all dimensions)

$igure @

!.!.+ #elief
'n $igure @ a typical flat pattern is shown -ote that as no corner relief was selected then sharp darts are cut into the start of the bend, resulting in a high rate of material deformation in this corner Although, for the thin material being used, this is acceptable, the ease of bending will be improved by removing some material from this area

Choose #edefine and the Smt Con%ersion from the family tree to redisplay the dialogue bo3 in $igure = >ighlight Corner #eliefs and &efine and see the effect of choosing one of the options shown in $igure A 5ecommended dimensions are shown

$igure A Another nicety is illustrated in $igure < where part of a sheet is to be bent down and part not Although Pro-* does offer bend relief for such instances, cutting machines cannot produce slits of Bero width 't is, therefore, suggested that a cut is inserted which goes "ust beyond the bend area, terminating in a full radius, as shown

$igure < -ote that sometimes it is necessary to provide much more corner relief than the above options, where, for e3ample, overlapping tabs are re)uired as shown in section = A

!') *dding &uts

&o save time it is strongly recommended that all mounting holes and cut-outs are included in the initial cutting stage to avoid the need for drilling later &he 1$lat Pattern2 feature, li%e any other in the model tree, can be suppressed and resumed at will &his allows you to toggle between the development and the folded up form of the model !ounting holes and other features are added to the folded form, and will automatically be placed correctly on the flat pattern As in the e3ample below this is also true of cuts s%etched on a plane at C8 degrees to the plane of the flat pattern -ote that the flat pattern will always arrange itself to be the final feature on the family tree &here are = methods of ma%ing holes and cuts, the S, Cut icon to the right of the screen , and from the '-4*5& menu either Extrude or -ole (although hole will only do round ones)

!'+ ,a(il% -able

't is vital to define a $amily &able for all folded components as they will be re)uired in both bent and flat forms in drawings, and in the folded form in assembly models &he family table should be started as soon as possible so that the correct instance can be inserted $rom the &,,+4 menu select Famil. able and the following bo3 appears -

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4elect the 1Add a Column2 icon

and the dialogue bo3 shown appears0

>ighlight Feature under 1Add 'tem2 and select the $lat Pattern so that the form loo%s as the one depicted Accept selections with ,D

5eturning to the $amily &able window will show it to be partially filled in 4electing the 1Add a row2 icon allows a futher instance to be added 4uggest it be called 1chassisEfolded2 -ote that the generic will have the flat pattern turned on and the folded instance must have it turned off so that the form will now appear thus

$rom now on, whenever this model is inserted into an assembly or a drawing you will be as%ed which instance you re)uire -ever put the generic model away with the $lat Pattern feature suppressed as this causes trouble with references in assemblies and drawings

&o a Famil. able before insertin$ the model into either an assembl. or a dra/in$0

) Evolving the Design

4hould the structure of the chassis need modifying, during the design process, then there are several techni)ues to choose from

)'1 Si($le Modification of Di(ensions

&o modify the overall siBe of the chassis one can return to the original solid e3trusion &o increase, for e3ample, the overall length of the chassis is straightforward 4uppress the $lat Pattern feature, choose ,odif. from the PA5& !*-. and select the original e3trusion &he relevant dimension can now be simply altered, although care must be ta%en that other features such as holes are still in the desired position 4ee below

>owever the same approach cannot be used if it is re)uired to increase the depth of the s%irt &his cannot be achieved all round the chassis, as the tabs bent down in the central portion must remain narrower than the slots from which they are cut &herefore the original e3trusion cannot simply undergo a dimension modification but must be 5edefined to include a cut giving a step in depth around the problem area &his creates more surfaces and so the $irst (all feature must be redefined to produce the desired shell &his, in turn, means that the 4mt Conversion feature may need redefinition to re-establish the rips and bends and to achieve this any corner reliefs must be temporarily removed as their references will go missing in the process &his is, clearly, too complicated and so it is recommended that 5edefinition of the original feature is avoided and simpler techni)ues applied

)'! Si($le

all E.tension

&o e3tend walls individually, in the simplest way, choose the Create Extended Wall icon (Ath from top at right of model window) A dialogue bo3 appears prompting firstly the selection of an edge to be e3tended and then a distance Choose Use )alue option and then, ignoring suggested values, choose Enter, allowing a value to be typed in

$igure A shows the rear wall e3tended by Amm $igure A

$igure 9 1' 2 #emember to take account of Parent 3 Child relationships. &o e3tend walls with cuts in their edges, as with the side walls, the e3tension should be placed before the cut in the family tree to produce the re)uired result, as shown in $igure 9 above

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&o carry out any more complicated modifications, from ma%ing an e3tension to only part of the length of an e3isting wall to adding a comple3 profile with specified bend angles or providing a folded 1safety edge2, the 7nd and =rd 'cons down are used

Create Flat Wall Create Flan$e Wall

1$lat2 wall simply means that the shape is defined by s%etching on the flat face, it may still be attached to the e3isting wall via a single bend of any angle 1$lange2 wall is effectively the same as 1e3truded2 and means that the s%etch is edgewise on, therefore comple3 bend profiles may be defined although they must be constant over the length of attachment &his command allows attachment to curved edges 9oth of these commands operate with a dashboard type display of parameters to be defined, with the provisional wall shown in lime-green so that the effect of any alterations can be seen graphically before being committed to 9oth have the facility for calling up standard shapes whose dimensions can be edited on a simple graphic menu, or to be user-defined by entering the s%etcher

)') /on-unifor( E.tension of 0alls

&o e3tend walls by an amount varying over the length of the edge in )uestion, choose the Create Flat Wall icon (7nd from top) &he following dashboard appears

Pic% the edge to attach to and set the shape to #ectan$le as well as the angle to Flat 0.nder the 4>AP* tab a simplified s%etch can be displayed and edited as shown below 0-

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-ote that the effect of changes can be seen 1live2 in the lime green rendered wall in the main window &he e3ample shown is a simple rectangular addition over the length of the attachment edge minus 1AmmG observe that the first time the number 1A is entered a minus sign must be used 5eady-made shapes available for this feature include 1 rape4oid2, 152 and 1 2 while any flat shape can be defined by selecting 1User &efined2 and entering the s%etcher

*.+ (ddin$ Walls /ith 'ends

&his command also allows walls to be attached via a bend, by selecting the re)uired angle in the field that had been set to Flat above 'n the e3ample below, a bo3 with / sides bent up has a further return added As we re)uire to ma%e this addition to all / sides, the shape will be trapeBoidal, with /@H ends, to avoid interference -ote the effect of the various flip arrows : modifications can be seen 1live2 in the model window

Accepting the options above gives the result shown0

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)'1 &o$%ing of ,eatures

&o repeat the feature on all / walls the 1copy and paste2 method can be used >ighlight the feature to be copied and under the *D'& menu select Cop. &he Paste and Paste Special commands are now available Paste allows an independent copy to be created on any selected edge >owever, in this case it would be preferrable to have dependent copies, i e copies which change to match alterations made to the original feature &herefore select Paste Special and in the dialogue bo3 which appears (see opposite) tic% the bo3 for dependency as shown ,D-ing this causes the dashboard to appear and it simply remains to select the attachment edge re)uired for the copy *nsure that if the e3ternal edge was selected for the original then the same is selected here and vice-versa -ote that the 1clipboard2 is now empty and that further pasting operations re)uire the master feature to be highlighted and copied each time 5epeating the procedure for each wall produces the structure shown0

'f the dimensions of the original trapeBoidal wall are now varied then the copies will change as well 'f, however, a difference was re)uired then any dependent feature can always be made retrospectively independent by highlighting it and using the ,ake Sec 6ndep option from the 5!9 menu -ote that, in this case, the new walls all e3tend over the entire length of their attachment edges despite being of differing lengths &his is because they are defined as doing this 'f the original feature had been s%etched and had been defined with all finite dimensions rather than attached to ends of e3isting entities, then some modification of copies might have been necessary to achieve the desired result

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)'2 -abs 3e4uiring Bend 3elief

'n our e3ample, it is desired to stiffen the chassis by e3tending the side walls into tabs to be bent round and pop-riveted to the end walls, as below

&he neatest result is obtained by folding the tabs behind the ad"acent end wall &his can be achieved with the same Create Flat Wall command which will ensure correct, flush alignment of surfaces automatically *nter the dashboard for this command as before, highlight the attachment edge (it is suggested that a consistent choice of outside edge is chosen) and define the shape A nice little wrin%le is to use a trapeBoid with a very slight angle (eg 7 degrees) to provide clearance from the top edge and from the bend at the base, in case the bending is not )uite 188I accurate

.se the flip arrows to ensure that the tab goes the right way and that it lies flush against the end wall, not coincident with it

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At the bottom corner of the tab, where its bend meets the bend between base and side wall, there is a region of infinite deformation &his must be resolved by some sort of relief and the default (set under the dashboard heading 5*+'*$) is a simple rip, giving the effect shown highlighted opposite &his is actually undesirable, as it would be both difficult to bend and would leave a dangerous sharp corner 'nstead some material would be removed from this area to avoid the situation altogether Although there are bend reliefs available from the dashboard defining the wall in )uestion, these do not wor% very well when ad"acent to other bends (their purpose is to lie between bent material and flat material, as shown later) &here are 7 recommended methods to resolve this0

Usin$ ori$inal Corner #elief

5eturn to the 4!& Conversion feature and edit its definition 4elect Corner #eliefs from the 4!& Conversion definition window and &efine, select all corners and &one. &his ma%es the 5edefine 9end 4ettings window appear as shown below >ighlight Corner #elief and &efine and then select Circular. Choose Enter )alue and set diameter to @mm (&his is the value re)uired to avoid all traces of a rip relief)

Accept by ,DJing bo3es and &one Sets &his results in the $lat Pattern now showing large circular cut-outs at the corners >owever, if the $lat Pattern is suppressed, it will be observed that the corners loo% the same as before on the folded-up version (ie with no relief) &his is because the cuts cannot be computed until the fabrication is flat and, at the moment, the $lat Pattern feature is the first time that the sheet has been flat &o observe the effect in the folded-up model, it is necessary to insert two features into the model tree $irst the Unbend feature, using the eighth icon down $ollow this with the 'end 'ack feature from the flyout from .nbend

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$or both of these features a surface or edge must be selected to stay fi3ed,(ma%e it the same reference for both features) and the options0 Unbend (ll and 'end 'ack (ll should be chosen -ow, if the $lat Pattern is suppressed, the folded corner loo%s li%e this0-

-ote that the regions of bent metal are separated by the circular relief

Usin$ relief added b. hand in the unbent state

&he method above does result in )uite a large hole in the corner but it is possible to remove the minimum amount of material if done manually Add an Unbend feature as above and e3amine the flattened corner detail as e3ample below A sheet metal cut can be inserted into the flattened material to remove the line shown, where two bent regions meet

1A

&he first s%etch shown below removes a triangle, whereas the second removes a circle attached to points at the "unctions of the bend Bones (diameter comes out at about = /) -ote that in both cases there are no dimensions because e3isting features are used for all definitions 7-int8 6n the sketcher9 add * points first.:

&heir effects in the folded state are shown below

&he cut feature can be mirrored onto the opposite corner by selecting it (either from the model or the tree) and choosing ,irror from either the *D'& pull-down menu or the icon at the bottom right corner of the screen A mini dashboard appears, on which the only item which must be filled in is the mirror plane selection 1ote that under ;ptions one can choose /hether the cop. is independent or dependent upon the ori$inal 7ie /ill update automaticall. /hen the ori$inal is modified:. &o mirror onto the bac% corners a datum plane could be inserted halfway down the chassis Alternatively either 7 or all / corners could be cut on the same s%etch

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)'5 *dding Bent -abs fro( a ,lat Bac6ground

&he same 1Create Flat Wall2command allows tabs to be bent up from surrounding flat material in the manner shown below 'n the e3ample being used it is first necessary to cut away the side walls where the tabs are re)uired 't is also desirable to be able to alter the positions of these features by editing one single dimension and so an au3iliary datum plane may be inserted at an offset from the front plane

.se 4heet !etal Cut to remove a rectangle of material symetrical to au3iliary datum (D&!7) and attached to outer surface of side wall ,nly two dimensions will be shown on the s%etch, width and depth as seen below

&his cut may be mirrored about the !'D datum plane, using 1options2 on the dashboard to ma%e the copy dependant, (thus ensuring ease of subse)uent modification while maintaining symmetry of chassis)
1F

4elect Create Flat Wall icon and pic% edge of cut for attachment as shown Define shape, angle and bend radius

&his case is where the inbuilt relief options are particularly useful ,pen the 5*+'*$ menu from the dashboard 't is recommended that the options shown opposite are used +eave both sides the same Choose ;bround. 4elect 1 an to 'end2 as the length 4elect 1 hickness x !2 as the width -ote that the material removed is from the surrounding flat area : the tab width is unaffected

&hese choices result in a flat pattern that is both easy to cut and to bend and which produces the result pictured opposite

1C

&his feature can now be copied to the other cut using the 1Copy K Paste2 method previously described 5emember to use 1Paste Special2 to ma%e the copy dependant -ote that using the mirror function on this feature does not produce the simple result e3pected and is unnecessary if the tab is, itself, symmetrical Cuts can be added to these walls, noting that if !'D datum plane is selected as the s%etching plane then 1 hrou$h (ll2 produces the result below 5eference the cuts to D&!7 horiBontally and surface of chassis vertically

4hould the model need modifying then the position of the whole feature can be controlled with the dimension to D&!7 and the width of spacing by the depth of original cuts &he width of brac%ets is controlled by the width of original cuts and the height of brac%ets by the brac%et definition &he cuts and the holes should always remain symmetrical to D&!7 as this is how they were originally defined 6t is al/a.s a $ood idea to spend a little time considerin$ ho/ to define positions and refer dimensions in order to simplif. subse<uent modification.

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)'7 &reate ,lange

all

All the above modifications and additions have used the Create Flat Wall function >owever, occaisionally, it is useful to be able to create an e3tra wall by s%etching on its edge and then e3truding the profile, as, for e3ample, when multiple bends are re)uired &o create an integral sensor brac%et, for e3ample, the dashboard shown below is entered by selecting the third icon down

4elect the desired attachment edge for Placement9 under Profile go to the User &efined option and enter the s%etcher (s%etching on the !'D datum plane), specify the length as symmetrical about the s%etch plane and use some relief (obround is recommended) -ote that the bend radius at the attached edge is automatically specified on the dashboard but the integral bend can either be s%etched at the re)uired radius, or left sharp on the s%etch so that the 1add bends to sharp edges2 tic%-bo3 can be used to lin% this bend to the radius on the dashboard as well (hen in the s%etcher it is not necessary to thic%en the s%etch as the direction of thic%ening is controlled by a flip-arrow on the dashboard ,ther possibilities offered by this command include the ability to attach to a curved edge but to manufacture this type of feature would re)uire more sophisticated forming e)uipment than is available Also, under the standard profiles are included various types of 1safety edge2 where material is folded to avoid sharp edges, but these are not considered relevant to the 'DP

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+ 8ut$ut
Dimensioned drawings must be produced to gain Design Approval &hey should be included in the relevant reports and are also your record of the design and are useful as discussion documents whilst modifications are considered

+'1 Dra0ings
4tart a new drawing and select 1Empt. /ith Format2, browsing for a suitable C.*D border (hen in the drawing, add both 1generic2 and 1folded2 instances of the model : from 5!9 menu choose Properties and then &ra/in$ ,odels. 4elect (dd ,odel from the D5A('-? !,D*+4 menu and insert chassis model twice, once in each instance .se Set ,odel from the D5A('-? !,D*+4 menu to determine which instance views are added from As most features have been defined in the folded state, it is best to dimension these in the folded views &his includes holes, cuts and overall siBes as in the e3ample below

-ote that it is permissable to use a note about symmetry to minimiBe the number of dimensions, provided the intention is unambiguous -ote that it is not possible to rely upon the automatic dimensioning provided by Pro-*, there will always be e3traneous dimensions generated and it will always be necessary to insert some dimensions manually 't is still necessary to produce flat views(from the generic instance of the model) but the only features which must be dimensioned on these are the bend lines (which must be scribed by hand in the wor%shop later)

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't is acceptable to dimension to one side or the other of bends or even to their centre line, provided that dimensions appear stating the relationship between these 4uch dimensions may be shown once as 1&LP'CA+2 as in the e3ample above

+'! D9,
&he cutting machine re)uires a D#$ file to be produced 4tart a new drawing file, choosing Empt., 5andscape and (! siBe Attach the generic instance of the model and Add a &op ;iew at a scale of 101 *nsure that no notes or dimensions are displayed and also remove bend lines by choosing &isp ,ode from ;'*(4 menu and selecting )ie/ &isp 4elect the only view and highlight 1o &isp an, then &one3#eturn &he view will now be left with only cut lines displayed Choose command 14ave a Copy2 of the file and in the dialogue bo3 change $ile &ype to D#$ 't is helpful to produce one D#$ file for all components in 8 <mm steel and one (if applicable) for all components in 1 @mm aluminium Do this by attaching all relevant models to the drawing and selecting new model for each view &a%e care that all scales are 101

&ra/in$ file appearance prior to creation of &=F file.

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Determine the order in which bends are to be e3ecuted : if in doubt see% advice from wor%shop technicians &he cut sheet should have bend lines scribed upon it to show the start of each bend 9e careful to scribe upon the side of material that will be uppermost (and therefore visible) in the bending machine

1 *sse(bl% Modelling 1'1 Parts :ibrar%

't is strongly recommended that the entire assembly is modelled before gaining design approval and starting manufacture &o help with this, models of the standard component parts have been placed in the !DP library &his is accessed, from the 1,pen $ile2 dialogue bo3, by changing directory to CUE& 5ibrar. and then selecting mdp>lib. &he library structure is shown below and it will be found that each section has a description of the contents

.se the Preview facility offered by Pro-* to see the file before opening it -ote that some of the items have been pre-assembled to save time Also note that the gears are shown as smooth drums of the pitch-circle-diameter &o mesh the gears ensure that these circles are "ust touching >owever to chec% the overall space envelope re)uired by a gear, Suppress the final cut and a new outer surface (coloured yellow) will be revealed (hen building up a large assembly, it is much easier to use sub-assemblies, rather than bringing loads of individual components into the top-level model $or instance0
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assemble the motor, shaft e3tension and wheel (already done in the library), together with a suitable brac%et of your own devising, into a drive-unit assembly before inserting this into the overall robot, thus saving having to do everything twice and minimising the number of datum features that need to be displayed when positioning things

1'! Standard Brac6ets and other (aterials

'n addition to the chassis, there will, probably, be a re)uirement for au3iliary brac%ets formed from sheet metal &o save time, a small library of standard brac%ets has been compiled, which can be modified to individual re)uirements -ote that from wherever library files are obtained, they are %ept as read-only 't will be necessary to save a re-named copy to allow modification &he types of brac%ets offered are shown below

&here are also short lengths of the bar and angle materials which may be used similarly

1') *sse(bl% -i$s

(hen placing parts in an assembly model, remember that when one or two constraints have been made then the part may be moved by hand (in the remaining degrees of freedom only) by holding Ctrl K Alt while using the !!9 for rotation and the 5!9 for translation &here is nothing wrong with leaving a component partially constrained while other parts and features are arranged 'f it is re)uired to add a mounting hole to match a placed component, this can be done from within the assembly model by using the 1Activate2 facility A typical procedure might be 'nsert a component into the assembly and place %nown constraints upon it (eg0 mounting surface to surface of chassis, orientation of faces and edges) Position the component by hand to roughly the right position in remaining plane(s) Activate the chassis model (highlight and 5!9 menu) ,bserve little green diamond Cut a hole to match that in placed component, possibly using concentric circles Place dimensions on cuts using references in chassis model alone 5esolve redundant dimensions and constraints as prompted (by deleting coincidences) &wea% dimensions to round numbers as re)uired Accept cut feature if satisfactory 5e-Activate assembly model (highlight top level of model tree and use 5!9 menu) 5eturn to definition of placement of partially constrained component and add constraint aligning mounting holes
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Inde.
$.-C&',! - ?ettin$ Started 4tarting with 4olid !odel 4!& Conversion 5ipping 9end Definition 777 $lat Pattern 77= 5eliefs Adding >oles and Cut-outs $amily &able 77/ 7= 7/ * - ,odification echni<ues 4imple !odification of Dimensions *3tend (all (simple) *3tend (all (more comple3) Adding (alls with 9ends Copying &abs 5e)uiring 9end 5elief =A 9ent &abs from $lat 9ac%ground Create $lange (all + - ;utput Drawings D#$ @ - (ssembl. Component +ibrary @1 9rac%ets @7 Assembly &ips @= =< =F /1 /7 71 77 771 5*$*5*-C* -,&*4 *ntering sheet metal application and creating shell Defining sheet metal features Deciding which edges are discontinuous and which bent ;alues of bend radii for materials used in 'DP Development of model as cut from sheet, before being bent Adding corner reliefs and slots for ease of manufacture .se of $latM$olded models Allowing flat and folded instances to be used independantly !odification of original e3trusion K pitfalls *3tends wall uniformly over entire length of edge Allows e3tension over part of edge and to varying lengths Attaching new bent wall Adding multiple new features by 1copy and paste2 method Adding e3tra folded tabs and managing relief of material in corners Adding bent walls to flat material, including relief *3trusion of wall with several integral bends Drawings and Dimensioning Producing files for cutting +ocation and use of library of standard parts -otes on use of standard brac%ets 4ome guidance on alignment of components

=1 =7 == =/ =@

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