Making a Twisted Sheet Metal Part 4

[CAD2015]

In some product applications we need to make a sheet metal part that has a twist in it. How can we create it?

How should a Twisted Sheet Metal Part be modeled in NX? What feature (other than Free Form Feature) should be used?

Thanks

 

[eex23]

Just overviewed all models posted here, and have one question: is it possible to control thickness of twisted zone. If yes, so then it should be possible to convert whole part to sheet metal and have flat pattern, am I right?

 

[FrankSwinks]

Sheet Metal flat patterns work on nuetral axis length nothing to do with controlling thickness. The sheet metal bends are thus straightened out using the bend length (along the nuetral axis) which is approximated as I am sure you know. Now if you look at the twisted section you will note considerable difference in length between the centre and the external edges. This requires plastic flow both in tension and compression across and along the twisted section as compared to a bend when we have uniform plastic flow across the bend section. There is therefore no simple flat pattern method for the twisted part. In other words going from a CAD model to a valid flat pattern is not possible for such a piece. If you have data for a range of twisted pieces it is possible to write an algorithm to modify the twisted part to an appropriate flat pattern.

Frank Swinkels

 

[mmauldin]

The files I submitted are in NX6. We're a little behind the times.

As for controlling thickness, the models I submitted are created by first making a sheet and then adding thickness, so they are by default, within the tolerance setting, controlled for thickness.