Hi,
If you ever take notice of cornices or "moulding" on the top of buildings or signs, you may notice that the profile you see on the face isn't always the profile you see from a side view. If different at all, it's typically that many members of the profile are the same height, but are elogated on the other side. In situations like this, you can't simply cut a 45 degree angle on each profile and expect them to go together. You have to cut individual angles on each member. In wood working this is fairly simple using a coping saw in skilled hands, but sheet metal is another animal.
I used solidworks this past week to try and get "flat patterns" of two profiles intersecting at a corner as described above. I had to do this twice for two different sets of profiles on our project. Since it's the first time I've had to do it, I tried a hodge podge of ways to get it done. Although, in the end I was able to get what I needed, it seemed way too complicated and time consuming. It made sense to me that there was some feature in solidworks I was not familiar with that would automate this.
I have attached the two different assembly files and their corresponding part files so you can visualize the methods used and desired outcome. The one titled "base top" was the first one I did and the sloppiest. I attempted to make an extruded cut on the face of one profile with a sketch in the shape of the other profile..kinda like how you would cope a piece of wood moulding. It worked in part, but not entirely and had to be massaged in the assembly file and cheat the flat pattern a little by hand.
The one titled "base bottom" was the last one I did and came out more accurate.
The method I used was to create each profile individually and extrude it into a sheet metal part. Then mate them at a 90 degree corner intersection. I then edited each part in the assembly file inserting sketches on the surfaces of the members and performing extruded cuts based on what I could see it's corresponding part doing. Again, this was time consuming and certainly did not seem the recommended way of doing it.
If interested or experienced with this sort of thing, or even if you just think you may be able to help..... Please open these files and see if there would have been an easier way to accomplish the end result through some time of pierce/cut function of two intersecting parts.
Sorry this is so wordy, I didn't know how to describe it any quicker.
Thanks for your time,
-Dan
SW 2009
If you ever take notice of cornices or "moulding" on the top of buildings or signs, you may notice that the profile you see on the face isn't always the profile you see from a side view. If different at all, it's typically that many members of the profile are the same height, but are elogated on the other side. In situations like this, you can't simply cut a 45 degree angle on each profile and expect them to go together. You have to cut individual angles on each member. In wood working this is fairly simple using a coping saw in skilled hands, but sheet metal is another animal.
I used solidworks this past week to try and get "flat patterns" of two profiles intersecting at a corner as described above. I had to do this twice for two different sets of profiles on our project. Since it's the first time I've had to do it, I tried a hodge podge of ways to get it done. Although, in the end I was able to get what I needed, it seemed way too complicated and time consuming. It made sense to me that there was some feature in solidworks I was not familiar with that would automate this.
I have attached the two different assembly files and their corresponding part files so you can visualize the methods used and desired outcome. The one titled "base top" was the first one I did and the sloppiest. I attempted to make an extruded cut on the face of one profile with a sketch in the shape of the other profile..kinda like how you would cope a piece of wood moulding. It worked in part, but not entirely and had to be massaged in the assembly file and cheat the flat pattern a little by hand.
The one titled "base bottom" was the last one I did and came out more accurate.
The method I used was to create each profile individually and extrude it into a sheet metal part. Then mate them at a 90 degree corner intersection. I then edited each part in the assembly file inserting sketches on the surfaces of the members and performing extruded cuts based on what I could see it's corresponding part doing. Again, this was time consuming and certainly did not seem the recommended way of doing it.
If interested or experienced with this sort of thing, or even if you just think you may be able to help..... Please open these files and see if there would have been an easier way to accomplish the end result through some time of pierce/cut function of two intersecting parts.
Sorry this is so wordy, I didn't know how to describe it any quicker.
Thanks for your time,
-Dan
SW 2009
