unfolding a part

[Candyman]

Hi all, i have a bracket that has holes in it on a couple of angled faces.. what i want is a program that will take into account the shift in hole positions when the part is flattened out.. is this possible .. i would really appreciate any help on this one thanks paul

[Hardmill]

Solidworks,Solidworks,Solidworks.

Yes it is possible. I've never actually done

it, but was told solidworks is capable.

 

PEACE

[Rekd™]

Do a google search for "bend radius" or "bend deduction" and you'll find a ton of charts/formulae.

 

Note that different materials have a different bend deduction. (The amount of material to subtract from a bend depending on the radius of the bend)

 

'Rekd

[Candyman]

thanks for the quick reply... its not exacly a formula o want its more a program that will do it automatically..i want to import the part hit a button then it will flatten it out for me.. then i can use the new cad data to develop my flat blank with my holes ect in it...

[crazy^millman]

Solidworks has a sheetmetal in it that does this kind of things.

[Fig sign]

Exists C-hook Unfold.dll for ver 7. for $$

 

In definite list of c-hooks for ver 8 exists

quote:

---

Unfold 4D Engineering $ Assists in fabricated part design

---

It is for $$

contact them and check what you can get 4d engineering

 

HTH

ITHH

[Müřlıń®]

quote:

---

Exists C-hook Unfold.dll for ver 7. for $$

---

Can you use Ver 7 DLL's in 9?

 

I have ver 7 disk.

 

 

Murlin

[Fig sign]

Sometimes yes ,sometimes not .

For ver 8 chances higher .

Anyway you must have access code unfold.acc .

I wrote --->it is by $$ .

[camguy]

Paul, I use a program called Fastblank for this. Its very easy to use but takes a little more than " just push a button ". You have to create a mesh on the surfaces, offset the mesh by half the material thickness, pick the material type, then "push the button". I use it mainly for quoting on jobs. If you can put your part up on the ftp, i'll run it through the program for you if you like. If you can't put it on the ftp, feel free to email it to me.

[chris m]

There are many programs for this. The one we use at my moonlight job is from these guys:

 

Merry Mechanization

 

I think it works pretty well for them; I don't personally use it. At a former job we used software called ProFab which I believe is a CADKEY add-on.

 

C

[A3kid]

Well, as sophomoric as the code is, here's a quicky that should get you pretty close:

 

Run it using QBASIC.

 

10 LET R = 0

20 LET T = 0

30 LET A = 0

31 LET X = 0

32 LET Y = 0

33 LET Z = 0

40 INPUT "ENTER THE INSIDE BEND RADIUS OF BREAK (INCHES)"; R

50 INPUT "ENTER THE MATERIAL THICKNESS (INCHES)"; T

60 INPUT "ENTER BEND ANGLE (METAL MOVEMENT IN DEGREES)"; A

70 X = .4 * T

71 Y = (R + X) * A

72 Z = Y / 57.3

80 PRINT "BEND ALLOWANCE FOR BREAK IS"; Z; "INCHES"

90 PRINT "---"

100 PRINT "_"

 

 

Remember, it only gives you allowance for the bend itself so you'll have to split the value in half, w/ having going to either side of the c/l of the bend.

 

It works pretty good here - but we use mostly thin gage metal - 10ga & under.

[pip]

Autodesk Inventor does this, bit expensive though.

[A3kid]

I'm running I-deas here, and we've got the add-on sheetmetal package that does it too. You're right, it's expensive.

[Rekd™]

Here's a script to do it from within Mastercam:

 

code:

---

'////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

'//

'// Author: Matt Finley aka Rekd

'// Date: 07/02/2004 07:40 AM

'// File Name: BendDeduction.VBS

'//

'// Description: calculate bend deduction

'//

 

'///////////////// My Global Variables //////////

Dim R, T, A, X, Y, Z

 

' -- Start Script

Call Main()

 

' ////////////////////

' Sub Declaration

' ////////////////////

Sub Main()

R = 0

T = 0

A = 0

X = 0

Y = 0

Z = 0

If askValue("Enter the inside bend radius of break (INCHES)" ,0 ,1., R) Then

If askValue("Enter the material thickness (INCHES)", 0, 1., T) Then

If askValue("Enter bend angle (DEGREES)", 0, 179.9, A) Then

X = .4 * T

Y = (R + X) * A

Z = Y / 57.3

ShowString "Bend Allowance for Break is: " & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & Round(Z, 4) & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & "Inches"

End If

End If

End If

End Sub

---

HTH

 

'Rekd

[crazy^millman]

Pretty Slick there Matt. I like that but see soem other application for your script.

 

So you pulling another weekend like me.

[A3kid]

Rekd,

That code looks familiar....

[Rekd™]

Yeah, Ron.. story of my life.. My wife gets to stay home and play with the boy, and I get to work. (It's ok, almost a $2,500.00 take-home check last week.. )

 

A3kid, yes, it should. You see, a good programmer is not measured in his/her ability to create good, working code. They are measured by their ability to make code that someone else wrote work in their applications..

 

I figured I'd convert it to VBS cuz most peeps don't use QBasic any more, and this way it can easily interact with Mastercam.

 

'Rekd teh On Error GoTo Hell

[A3kid]

Rekd,

Actually I'm glad you did that. I enjoy being able to contribute here. And yes, basic is very dated - but so is my programming knowledge. (I started out on a Radio Shack TRS-80 that you had to boot by playing a cassette in a tape recorder.)

 

 

 

FWIW - I've got a TON of solid and class A surface modeling experience to offer, too. I did the surface models for all of the non-OEM doors for the vehicles our company builds.

 

www.accubuilt.com

[crazy^millman]

Well Matt that would not cover the overtime they owe me right now. I am bringing that home about every 2 weeks for the hours I am working. So that is $1200 a week and I was making more working these hours back in Florida.

[HECTOR]

SOLID WORKS ,CATIA ,PRO-E YOU CAN DRAW AND UNFOLD

3D GEOMETRY

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