SolidWorks 2011 Parts Bible - Matt Lombard [288]
Using the Flatten Bends feature
The Flatten Bends feature is added automatically by the Insert Bends tool. As mentioned earlier, it takes the model with sharp corners and lays it flat, adjusting the material in the bend area and normalizing the thickness faces around the Flat Pattern. The Merge Faces option is available in the Flat Pattern feature in the Insert Bends method; therefore, the Flat Pattern created by the Flatten Bends feature always has edges created by the tangent lines of the bends.
Notice in Figure 21.41 that the Flatten Bends feature has a sketch and several Sharp Bend features under it. The Sharp Sketch is simply an account of the bend lines, and you cannot edit it manually. The Sharp Bend features can be suppressed, in which case they are not re-formed in the Process Bends feature. You can also edit Sharp Bend features to change the default radius, bend allowance, and relief type.
FIGURE 21.41
Using the Flatten Bends feature
Using the Process Bends feature
The Process Bends feature takes all the Flat Pattern information, the bend information, and entities in the Flat Sketch and rebuilds the model with the formed bends. The Flat Sketch under the Process Bends feature is the Insert Bends method version of a sketched bend. You can add sketch lines here to bend panels of the part. After you add lines to this sketch, exiting the sketch causes the part to be created with a default 90-degree bend corresponding to the line. Of course, all the Sketched Bend rules exist, such as that the line has to extend at least up to the edges of the part, the lines cannot extend across multiple faces, and construction lines are ignored.
For every bend created by a sketch line in the Process Bends Flat Sketch, a Flat Bend feature is added to the list under Process Bends. You can control the angle and radius of each of these Flat Bends by editing the Flat Bend feature. This is all illustrated in Figure 21.42.
Using the No Bends feature
You use the No Bends tool on the Sheet Metal toolbar to roll back the model before the Flatten Bends feature in the tree with a single button click. This is primarily to add new geometry that is turned into bends through the Flatten and Process Bends features.
Using the Flat Pattern feature
The Insert Bends method uses the Flat Pattern feature as well as the Base Flange method. However, it was not part of the original scheme and was added at some point after the new tools had proved their value. This enables you to make use of the new features as well, as discussed later in this chapter in the section on mixing methods.
FIGURE 21.42
Using the Process Bends feature
Using the Convert to Sheet Metal feature
The Convert to Sheet Metal feature can use either SolidWorks native data or imported data. It can also use solids as well as surfaces. The model can be shelled or not shelled and have filleted edges or not. This feature enables you to identify which edges will become bends and automatically identifies the edges to rip. See Figure 21.43.
This tool is very useful for imported geometry and for parts with tricky shapes. Although the PropertyManager interface looks busy, it is fairly straightforward to use. Your first selection in the top Fixed Entity box should be a stable face, preferably an outer face on the bottom or the top. Inner faces generally do not work.
FIGURE 21.43
Using Convert to Sheet Metal
Note that you can reverse the thickness of the sheet metal, so that the solid that you start with can be treated as the volume inside the sheet metal enclosure, or the outer faces of the initial solid turn out to be the inner faces of the sheet metal part. Use the Reverse Thickness option to accomplish this.
Selecting Bend Edges is the next step, with the implication that any edge that is not a bend will be ripped. Also note that three bend edges cannot intersect at a point or one bend edge cannot intersect at the middle of another