Problem sheet metal part

[Anonymous]

Attached are two files that show a sheet metal part and how I want the flat pattern to be so I can press it up.
The trouble is, I can't seem to model the part to get the flat pattern I want. I'd appreciate any tips as to the best way of going about this.
Peter

[Anonymous]

Second attachment

[JDMather]

Attach what you have so far.
What release of Inventor?

[Anonymous]

I'm using IV 2008.
Here's what I've done, its a question of adding the side "wings" ??

Peter

[Anonymous]

Do you have some dimensions?

[Anonymous]

You can take dimensions from the model I posted.
But it's more about the principle of how to create the model so it can be unfolded.

[luciacasu]

Is this the flat pattern you want?

Thanks,
Lucia Casu
Inventor Part Modeling

[Anonymous]

Based on what you posted, I dont think it's going to work with what you've modeled so far since the flanges aren't at the same height, or angle rather, so the middle peice that would have to fold up to close the end would also have to be bent in order to smooth out the corners. If you have a flat pattern with dimension it would be easier to start from scratch. See attached for what I see so far.

[Anonymous]

Here's a 2D flat pattern as a DXF that would be my starting point. We'd probably make a half scale version, see what happens, then tweak the pattern accordingly. Of course I Haven't used IV just a simple 2D CAD package. (I could have just as easily done it on a drawing board)

[Anonymous]

Alright, here is your part based of the dxf dimensions. Let me know what you think.

[Anonymous]

I'd say it looks pretty dang close to the picture, and the flat works.

[Anonymous]

Dang, now that I look at them right next to each other there's a few differences on the edge. let me see if I can fix that.

[Anonymous]

Ok, this is more like it.

[Anonymous]

The side by side now looks closer with a minor difference, see attached.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your efforts.
Seems a bit of a hard way to create an unfoldable model, but sheet metal isn't IV's strongest suite.

[JDMather]

>sheet metal isn't IV's strongest suite

You are using an ancient release. Going about it the hard way in 2008 anyhow.

[Anonymous]

> You are using an ancient release. Going about it the hard way in 2008 anyhow. We are promised that we will have 2010 "soon", but I'm not holding my breath!
I'm happy to be shown how it should be done, I'm not too proud to accept assistance

[Anonymous]

JD, the release may be ancient, but I'm nailed to what my company is using. As far as you reference to going about it the hard way, are you refering to the part model that I posted? If so, what would be the easier way to go about this part? I've still got a lot more to learn about modeling with sheet metal, so any insights would be greatly appreciated. TIA.


J Lackey
XP PRO SP2
INTEL CORE 2
2.66GHz 3.25GB RAM
INV 2008 SP 3

[Anonymous]

If anyone's interested, the prototype is going to the laser on Monday for a flat pattern and then to be pressed up. We'll see what happens!

[Anonymous]

I wanna know how it goes.