Fold part of a surface

[Francis.Foley]

I am having real difficulty in putting a fold on a sheet metal part that only fold part of the piece. I have made the part as a solid body and it almost looks the part but not quite. Does anyone know how to draw the part as a sheet metal piece.

The is very simple to make as a sheet metal part, the piece in question is placed into the press brake to the 34mm depth and then its folded to the 13 degree angle.

[Francis.Foley]

I would really appreciate some guidance on this problem, has anyone else come across this issue before?

[mcgyvr]

I can't open your part because I haven't installed 2013 yet but..

I'm pretty sure you can't do that as a fold.. You need to use a loft for that I believe.

And probably won't flatten (flat pattern) either. Do you need that?

Someone else might have a better solution. But I'd do it as a loft and move on.

[brendan.henderson]

Firstly, it's not a sheet metal part. It's a standard part. And when converting it to a sheet metal part (in 2013) an error is generated with something about "can't be done because it contains features created using multiple bodies". And even if it could convert it it would not flat pattern because the bends on the tongue are wrong (in Inventor terms this is stretching the material which is a no-no).

I would start a new sheet metal part and recreate the item. Then create a sketch on the face and make lines representing the bends and then bend them. In the below graphic this is where you will have to bend the part (the blue lines).

[Francis.Foley]

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@brendan.henderson wrote:

Firstly, it's not a sheet metal part. It's a standard part. And when converting it to a sheet metal part (in 2013) an error is generated with something about "can't be done because it contains features created using multiple bodies". And even if it could convert it it would not flat pattern because the bends on the tongue are wrong (in Inventor terms this is stretching the material which is a no-no).

I would start a new sheet metal part and recreate the item. Then create a sketch on the face and make lines representing the bends and then bend them. In the below graphic this is where you will have to bend the part (the blue lines).

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Brendan,

Thanks for the advice, but the part does not look like the actual part. In the actual part the folds run parallel down the tongue and not diverging as results from your suggestion.

[brendan.henderson]

I can see what you want but Inventor won't let you do it because it is stretching the part at the 2 points where the bent tongue meets the body. It's frustrating when you can model it, and you know it can be done in production but Inventro just won't do it because it is stretching the material.

The other way I can see to do it is to cut to gullets at the 2 points where the tonge meets the body and then fold the 2 tongue sides. See the below graphic.