Alternate Method of Creating Feature 1

[ravindraru]

Hello all,
One of my friend is facing difficulty in creating feature in sheetmetal whose image is attached with this.When he asked me I told him a method like this(which is shown in JPEG ).But he requires an alternate method which is simple(single command) than this .As I am purely from Plastic background I don't know much of the commands in Sheet metal Application.So if any one knows.........!
Please reply.

Regards,
Ravindra.R.Udandakar
Mob:-+91 9960608414

 

[JohnRBaker]

What version of NX are you using?

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[JohnRBaker]

It's called a 'Gusset'...

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

UG/NX Museum:

http://www.plmworld.org/p/cm/ld/fid=209

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[ravindraru]

I am using NX 7.5 &
thanks John.

Regards,
Ravindra.R.Udandakar
Mob:-+91 9960608414

 

[Rycroft]

I have a follow up question in a similar vein, we use NX6 and I cannot for the life of me find the gusset tool, I know it's in NX4 and NX7.5, did it disappear for NX6?

Cheers,

Rycroft

 

[JohnRBaker]

The 'Gusset' feature was added to NX Sheet Metal in NX 7.5.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[Rycroft]

Thanks John, must have been somewhere else I saw it earlier.

Cheers

Rycroft

 

[Toost]

Rycroft,
John is probably( -He usually are :- ) correct in that it was added to the Sheet Metal application in 7.5, but there does exist an cousin in NX6 called "Dart", Insert - Design feature - Dart. ( Modeling not sheet metal.) It will not do "both sides" as Sheet metal features most often do.
NX6 is the oldest version i have installed so i cannot verify NX4.
Regards,
Tomas

 

[JohnRBaker]

Actually the 'Dart' feature WAS developed to support a particular approach used for 'sheet metal' design as it relates to things like automotive sheet metal, such as body panels and/or inner panels.

When you open the hood or trunk of your car, the 'inner panel' is that big chunk of 'sheet metal' that you see with all the cutouts, ribs, and mounting points for things like hinges and latches. These are often some of the most complex pieces of 'sheet metal' anywhere on your typical car and one of the most complex to model. Now one of the approaches which has been used by several automotive OEM's who use NX (nearly 20 years ago I personally assisted one of the largest of these OEM's to develop the techniques used for this, much to the chagrin of those who thought that you could only do this sort of modeling by piecing together surface models) is what is what has become known as the 'chunky solid' approach.

This is where you start with what amounts to a big slab of 'solid model' and you start to model the features onto only ONE SIDE of what will be a large piece of sheet metal until you end-up with something which might look like a 'die' which could be used to stamp-out this part (actually the dies are significantly different since they have to account for many other factors and issues besides the final shape of the part). Once you've modeled all of the features into this complex 'chunk' of solid, including adding things like 'Darts' and either raised or depressed areas where ribs or stiffener members will be to give the piece structural rigidify (this is often the role of an 'inner panel' to support and give strength to a styled 'outer panel' which by itself would be too flexible and structurally 'weak') you then perform that last step, which we used to describe as "where the magic happens", by using the 'Shell' function to remove all of the back-side faces leaving a constant-wall thickness, yet potentially complex, 'sheet metal' part. And getting back to those 'Darts', they now all look very much like what that 'Gusset' looks like when you create one using NX Sheet Metal.

Here is an example of what I mean (this is part of the frame of an automobile near where the front suspension is mounted) where the first image shows the 'chunky solid' model:

And the second image shows the same model after the 'magic' was applied, in this case, a 'Shell' operation removing in essence that 'back' of the model (with a few last minute details like holes and cutouts are added):

Anyway, for those who thought that perhaps a 'Dart' was somehow related to a 'Gusset', you actually were right, it just depends on how you got from point A to point B as to which of these is actually suitable for what it is that you're attempting to model.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.