Using surfaces in a progressive strip file

[Anonymous]

Joe Bartel had an interesting comment in a previous post <“Creating the strip layout and the tooling for a progressive die can be done easily using
surfaces”> I have just completed a strip layout for a progressive die but I did not use any surfaces! I’m building a complex strip, (small part with many piercings, guttings and multiple bends on multiple legs with coined areas reducing the material thickness in places.) I found creating an assembly file of the strip was the only way for me to build the many part files that represent partially cut and formed stages of the part within the strip. I ran into several situations where I could not whittle out or bend areas of the part as I would actually do in the tool. For example: I have four 90 deg formed legs, where the legs meet the main body of the part the bend line falls inside the body and does not have adequate corner relief on either side of the leg. In the tool we just kill the sharp corners and let the material stretch and deform slightly. But in IV I was forced to add relief cuts in order to create the bend line. I have similar situations where I need to “coin” areas of the material that intentionally stretches and deforms areas of the strip and I can’t figure out how to do it in IV. MAYBE THIS IS WHERE SURFACES COME IN? Any suggestions or if you have a sample of surfaces in a strip file you could post in the CF area I would greatly appreciate it. One last note, would surfaces require less or more overhead from the computer to process within a larger assembly of the tools and strip. Thank you, Tom

[Anonymous]

I know little about progressive dies but... When you need to coin, you
can use the standard part modeling tools. When you need a dimension
which uses "Thickness", type it in to the dimensions equation. For
coining, you might use something like "Thickness * 0.5 ul".

tmalinski wrote:

> Joe Bartel had an interesting comment in a previous post <"Creating
> the strip layout and the tooling for a progressive die can be done
> easily using
> surfaces"> I have just completed a strip layout for a progressive die
> but I did not use any surfaces! I'm building a complex strip, (small
> part with many piercings, guttings and multiple bends on multiple legs
> with coined areas reducing the material thickness in places.) I found
> creating an assembly file of the strip was the only way for me to
> build the many part files that represent partially cut and formed
> stages of the part within the strip. I ran into several situations
> where I could not whittle out or bend areas of the part as I would
> actually do in the tool. For example: I have four 90 deg formed legs,
> where the legs meet the main body of the part the bend line falls
> inside the body and does not have adequate corner relief on either
> side of the leg. In the tool we just kill the sharp corners and let
> the material stretch and deform slightly. But in IV I was forced to
> add relief cuts in order to create the bend line. I have similar
> situations where I need to "coin" areas of the material that
> intentionally stretches and deforms areas of the strip and I can't
> figure out how to do it in IV. MAYBE THIS IS WHERE SURFACES COME IN?
> Any suggestions or if you have a sample of surfaces in a strip file
> you could post in the CF area I would greatly appreciate it. One last
> note, would surfaces require less or more overhead from the computer
> to process within a larger assembly of the tools and strip. Thank you,
> Tom