Sheet metal and sketcher 3

[Agriego]

I've just started working on sheet metal parts in NX5, and I've run into something that's bugging me. Why do we have to use sketcher to start a sheet metal part? Why can't we use a block as a starting point? I don't mind using sketcher, but I like having options on how to create my parts.

 

[JohnRBaker]

There's nothing stopping you from starting with a block which is say 3mm thick, but first you have to tell the system that it's sheetmetal since in order to behave like sheet metal the system has to know that the model is of a sheet metal part. The reason why we expect you to start by creating a 'Tab' is because it will automatically be created as a sheet metal feature. Now I guess we could have offered an non-Sketch method for creating that initial Tab, but why complicate things when most of the rest of sheet metal is already going to be sketcher based.

Now back to starting with a 'thin' solid block instead of a 'Tab', just create your solid 'block' however you wish and then enter the NX Sheet Metal module and go to...

Insert -> Convert -> Convert to Sheet Metal...

...and select your 'thin' solid and immediately hit OK. Now you can select it and add flanges and other sheet metal features as if that initial solid had been created as a 'Tab'.

BTW, that 'Convert to Sheet Metal' function will even turn a 'thick' solid block into a sheet metal part by selecting, after selecting a base face, the edges of the block which will automatically hollow out the solid block and then 'rip' the edges so that it has all the characteristics of a folded-up sheet metal part.

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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

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

 

[Agriego]

Excellent! Thanks for the assist!

Can we use the chamfer feature to add a chamfer to the flanges or do those have to be sketched as well? It seems clumsy to have to sketch everything as opposed to using holes, slots and such.

 

[JohnRBaker]

There should be no problem adding conventional Blend, Chamfer and Hole features to a Sheet Metal model since these types of features almost never participate in any of the 'forming' or 'unfolding' operations nor do they need to be linked to characteristics such as Material Thickness, Bend Allowance Factors or Minimum Bend Radii which is what actual Sheet Metal features depend on so as to behave like Sheet Metal.

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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

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

 

[RobLN]

Just to mention that I use the 'break corner' command for adding my rounds/chamfers to the flanges in sheet steel parts. Avoids the need to toggle into conventional modeler and keeps all the features 'sheet metal' Works just fine.
If you have an odd chamfer (like an asymmetric one) either sketch it on directly or you can add that in by switching to the modeler chamfer command with asymmetric selected.
I do prefer to try and keep all commands in the sheet metal environment. Avoids unexpected issues further down the road.

 

[Agriego]

Thanks to both of you. You've been very helpful. I'll try the break corner command tomorrow.

Al

 

[uwam2ie]

@John
I like how in sheet metall the features work on sb-flange feature for example there is a way to edit the sketch geometrie. This would be nice to have in the old modelling features like pad,pocket. etc

 

[JohnRBaker]

You can always Sketch on the face of your model and then use Extrude into the face for a Pocket, or out from the face for a Pad, and with the inferred Boolean option we're adding in NX 7.5, eventually you won't even have to worry about selecting the correct Boolean operation as we will automatically detect which will give you the most logical result and set it for you (which you can always override if you don't agree with our 'elves').

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

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

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