Sheet-Metal

A large proportion of products around us are made out of sheet-metal Electronic enclosures, white-ware, cars, hardware, computer components, robots, etc. Most common metals used are aluminium and steel

Sheet-Metal Manufacturing Methods

CNC Fabrication Laser cutting Bending Hard-tooled Spun

Bending
Bending is a manufacturing process by which metal can be deformed by plastically deforming the material and changing its shape. The material is stressed beyond its yield strength but below its ultimate tensile strength.

Bending
Bending is done using Press Brakes or bend brakes. Press Brakes can normally have a capacity of 20 to 200 tons to accommodate stock from 1m to 4.5m The material is placed on the die, and positioned in place with stops and/or gages. It is held in place with hold-downs. The upper part of the press, the ram with the appropriately shaped punch descends and forms the v-shaped bend. Programmable back gages, and multiple die sets currently available can make bending a very economical process

Types of Bending
Bending

Blank Punch

Blank Punch

Die

Die

Types of Bending
Bottoming

Blank Punch

Blank Punch

Die

Die

Types of Bending
Coining

Blank Punch

Blank Punch

Die Die

Bend Allowances
When sheet metal is bent, the inside surface of the bend is compressed and the outer surface of the bend is stretched. Somewhere within the thickness of the metal lies its Neutral Axis, which is a line in the metal that is neither compressed nor stretched

The location of the neutral line varies depending on the material itself, the radius of the bend, the ambient temperature, direction of material grain, and the method by which it is being bent, etc. The location of this line is often referred to as the K factor

Bend Allowances
K-factor is a ratio that represents the location of the neutral line with respect to the thickness of the sheet metal part.
t

K-Factor = t /T

Bend Allowances
If you have a 100mm long flat bar of 2mm Aluminium and bend it at 90 deg in the middle, the 2 legs will NOT measure 50mm each. In fact they will measure around 51.8mm each
STEP 1 Length Y STEP 2

Total Flat Length

Length X

Thickness

Bend Allowances vs Bend Deductions

BEND ALLOWANCE BEND DEDUCTION L1

L2

L1

L2

Lt = L1 + L2 + BA where: Lt = total flat length L1 and L2 are shown in the illustration BA = bend allowance value

Lt = L1 + L2 - BD where: Lt = total flat length L1 and L2 are shown in the illustration BD = bend deduction value

Calculating Bend Allowances

BA= A(R + KT) /180
where:
BA = bend allowance R = inside bend radius K = K factor, which is t / T (usually 0.25-0.5) T = material thickness t = distance from inside face to neutral line A = bend angle in degrees

Calculating Bend Deductions

BD = 2 x OOSB - BA

OSSB = tan(A/2) x T + R

Sheetmetal Rules
Rules in SolidWorks for Sheetmetal: Parts have a constant thickness Thickness faces are always perpendicular to the bend faces (material is never sheared at an angle) The bend faces are limited to cylindrical, planar, conical shapes The exceptions are form tools and Lofted Bends

The Flatten Test

Can it be flattened? Why?? Or Why not??

Ans. = Yes, All cones

The Flatten Test

Can it be flattened: Why?? Or Why not??

Ans. = No, Spline

Insert Bends Flatten Bends No Bends Rip Base Flange / Tab Miter Flange

Old School

Fold
Unfold Sketched Bends Edge Flange
New School

Closed Corner
Hem Break / Trim Corner Jog Lofted Bend

Sheetmetal Functions

Two Basic Methods

There are two basic methods SolidWorks sheetmetal can be used:

Model the part using regular SolidWorks functions like extrude, revolve, etc.
Generally used only for imported parts and rolled parts Start with an open sketch and a Base Flange feature Much more powerful Way more options

Base Flange
Base Flange requires an open sketch

Edge Flange
Select an edge, hit the button, pull the flange

Flange Length and Position buttons are self explanatory Offset allows you to create a dogleg flange You can also change the angle of the flange

Edge Flange
Edit Flange Profile allows you to change the sketch of the flange and alter the shape

Miter Flange
Miter Flange requires an open sketch on the edge of the part
Sketch

Propagate to tangent

Allowance for flattening

Fold / Unfold
To put a feature across a bend, unfold the bend, put in the feature, then fold it again
Select face to remain stationary
Use offset entities to make slots! Collect finds all the unfolded bends

Tab
There are no settings for the Tab function, it just adds a tab to the sketch face

Sketched Bend
Draw a line all the way across the part Dont cross bend lines Line must go all the way across Control bend angle and direction Black dot selects stationary face

Jog
Like a double sketched bend Allows you to keep the original length of the tab or add material as it jogs

Hems
Buttons and dimensions are self explanatory

Corner Break
Chamfers or rounds sharp outside corners Puts you into a selection filter model to pick short edges across the thickness and bend faces Selecting a face breaks all corners on face

Forming Tools
Forming tools drag and drop from the Design Library Forming tools maintain a constant thickness (they may add mass to the part) Red faces create holes in the part Only works on sheetmetal parts

Old School
Chamfers or rounds sharp outside corners

Build box

shell

Rip corners

Insert bends

Flatten

Finer Points
How does SW handle bend allowances? K Factor Bend Allowance Bend Deduction

Bend Table
A very good mathematical description of how SW handles bend allowances is available as a Knowledge Base article on the SW website.

Finer Points
How does SW handle bend reliefs? Tear = zero thickness cut

Rectangular = default depth is half of thickness

Obround = full round cut These settings are kept in the Sheetmetal feature in the tree.

Finer Points
Sheetmetal automatically creates a link value called thickness, which allows the thickness of the entire part to be changed at once
Link Value symbol