Bending channel iron

Nope. You'll have to create a Sweep path, and a profile of your channel, and sweep it along the path.

Wanna Tip? faq731-376
"Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities."

I did that, but the problem is the 4" holes. Guess I will have to calculate the distance between the holes at the bend. I wanted to use the sheet metal bend so I could pattern the holes, then bend the channel iron (same way that we produce it)

Thanks,
mncad

Have you tried lofted bends?

I may make you feel, but I can't make you think.

I just finished playing with lofted bends in SW2003. It has a long way to go.

I may make you feel, but I can't make you think.

Dear Mncad;

You and I have similiar problems. I have had to model bent railroad tracks for use as guard rails and running rails in a diamond crossing. All of the rails have many holes required for bolting them together, some of the holes are pendicular to the web, like yours, others go through the web at a crazy angle.

I used sweeps to create all the rails. The holes are dimensioned in relation to the line segments that make up the sweep path. The holes are all drilled prior to bending so their location have to accurate.

Fortunately I can measure off the old existing diamonds in the field to find where the holes should be, then I place the holes in the part by a bit of trial and error. I open the plan view of the diamond with hidden lines visible and then manipulate the individual part sketches untill I get the holes where I want them.

I make individual part files of the rails in the straight condition (Yes I know, I could use 1 part file and 2 configurations) and add in shop factors to compensate for the stretch in the rail caused by bending.

It seems to me you are going to end up doing similiar things to create your part.

Best Regards

Adrian D.

mncad,
I know that this is no help but one of the very few things that Cadkey can do better than SWX is modeling this kind of part. The process isn't parametric but the finished result is very realistic. Any holes in the bend area will deform just like the real world. We used CK 99 before making the switch to SWX.

mncad,

Are the holes drilled prior to, or after the bending operation?

You could try to create a Spline on the top surface of your rail, then create your hole feature, and locate/modify that with a Curve Driven Pattern.

Wanna Tip? faq731-376
"Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities."

Give this a go. I can't test it myself as I don't currently have any software.
1. Create a sheetmetal part of rectangular section equal to the perimeter of your channel cross section (minus rads).
2. Put your holes in.
3. Unbend it.
4. Create a cut to make the cross section a channel.
5. Add this feature to your configuration to be used in only the unbent instance.
5. Create a similar swept cut feature your configuration for the bent instance only.
6. You'll have to tweak you bend allowances, but you'd have to calculate this any way.

I'd be keen to see how you get on with this so please let me know. I'm pretty sure this'd work in Pro E, I've never tried it in SW.

Cheers

Hayden

Oooo.... you can't just use sheet metal software. you have lots of yielding and stretching going on let alone the hole deformation. Are you just wanting a good look-alike or are you after an accurate model of the true bent part? How are you manufacturing this stuff and controlling the deformation of the channel? Have you tried forcing the unroll thing to try this for you (is there even a way to do this anyone?). This is a toughy.

3/4 of all the Spam produced goes to Hawaii - shame that's not true of SPAM also.......