Sheet metal - Lofted flange between 3D sketched

[Anonymous]

Idealy the function I am looking for is a sheet metal lofted flange between 3D sketch, but on searching it dosent appear Inventor can do this.

I can create what I am trying to achieve by breaking the surface down into trianges using a 3D sketch and creating a new face on each triangle. This forms the shape I am trying to achieve but it is very tedious and controlling chord tollerances etc becomes very dificult.

I have included the sample part with the surface I want to turn to sheet metal so it can be flat patterned, And a section that had been done with my  current method.

Are there any other ways of achieve this?

Thanks Owen

[Anonymous]

I've always wanted to know if there is an easy way to do it as well. From what I can tell, Inventor doesn't do "deformed" parts, like an archimedes screw. I believe the logic is simple, just alternating up and down bends, but getting IV to do this in a fast and efficient manner is another story.

Any one else know of a method?

[pcrawley · Accepted solution]

Lofted flanges work when the input geometry is 2d sketches and does not include splines (2d or 3d).  The orientation of the two input sketches is largely irrelevant (within reason of course - they can intersect eachother!) - and the profile-types are extremely flexible (so you can go from open to closed profiles etc).

If your design can be reverse engineered to this level, then there's a good chance the lofted flange will work.

Owen - see pm for my take on your problem 😉