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Jog Position

The Jog Position selection establishes the relationship between the sketched line and the first bend tangent line. The Jog Position icons have tool tips with the following names, from left to right: Bend Centerline, Material Inside, Material Outside, and Bend Outside.

Jog Angle

The Jog Angle enables you to change the angle of the short perpendicular section of the jog. You can angle it to smooth out the jog (angles of less than 90 degrees) or to curl back on itself (angles of more than 90 degrees). Again, be careful to check with your manufacturer's capabilities.

Using the Sketched Bend feature

Sketched Bend works in some respects like half of a jog. It requires the sketch line and the Fixed Face selection. You define a bend position with the same set of icons that you used in the jog, and you assign a bend angle in the same way.

Tip

You can use the Sketched Bend feature to “dog ear” corners. You do this by drawing a line across the corner at an angle and setting the angle to 180 degrees and then overriding the default radius with a much smaller one, such as .001 inches.

Unlike Jog, the Sketched Bend feature does not show you a preview. The Sketched Bend PropertyManager is shown in Figure 21.22.

FIGURE 21.22

The Sketched Bend PropertyManager

Using the Closed Corner feature

The Closed Corner feature extends flanges on the sides to meet with other flanges. It is typically used when corners leave big open gaps in order to create a corner that is more easily welded shut. Figure 21.23 shows a part where angled flanges have been applied. This creates big gaps in the corners. Although a Miter Flange may have been better, these were created using regular Edge Flanges.

FIGURE 21.23

Applying the Closed Corner feature

Faces to Extend

You must select the thickness face of one of the flanges in order to extend it. Selecting one face automatically selects the matching face from the other flange that you also want to extend. The Corner Type selection icons depict the selected face as red, and the three icons display tool tips: Butt, Overlap, and Underlap.

Faces to Match

The faces selected in the Faces to Match selection box act as an “up to” end condition for the faces to extend. Prior to SolidWorks 2010, the Closed Corner feature always automatically selected a matching face to extend for each face selected, when appropriate. SolidWorks 2010 enables you to manually select matching faces in the Faces to Match selection box for those times when the automatic selection does not work.

Note

If you deselect faces in either the Faces to Extend or Faces to Match selection boxes, the Auto Propagation option toggles off to enable you to make selections manually.

Gap

The Gap setting enables you to specify how close you want the closed corner to be. Keep in mind that you cannot use the number zero in this field. If you do, then SolidWorks reminds you to “Please enter a number greater than or equal to 0.00003937 and less than or equal to 0.86388126.” It is good to know your limits.

Overlap/Underlap ratio

The Overlap/Underlap ratio setting controls how far across the overlapped face the overlapping flange reaches. Full overlap is a ratio of 1, and a Butt condition is (roughly) a ratio of zero. This ratio is only available when you have specified Overlap or Underlap for the corner type.

Open bend region

The Open bend region option affects how the finished corner looks in the bend area. If Open bend region is selected, then a small gap is created at the end of the bend. If the option is deslected, then SolidWorks fills this area with geometry. Figure 21.24 shows the finished model with this option selected and unselected, as well as the resulting Flat Patterns for each setting.

FIGURE 21.24

The Open bend region option, both selected and unselected, and the resulting Flat Patterns

Coplanar faces

When the Coplanar option is selected, any faces that are coplanar with any selected faces are also selected