For all you sheet metal in Inventor buffs, help please!
I am having trouble making sense of the flat pattern size calculated by Inventor on a sheet metal part using the flange feature to create a bent leg. For example, I have a formed 3/16 plate part, with a 12 3/16" leg O.D., and a 5 1/4" leg O.D., bent at 90deg. The shop would normally manually calculate a flat pattern for this at 17 1/16, adding up inside dimensions, and making no adjustments for bend radius. My understanding is that our shop mostly uses a "knife die" to bend with, so it is a very minimal bend radius. But when I drew the part, I left the bend radius set to "thickness", so 3/16, and it calculated the overall flat to be 17 1/8.
Any help explaining how Inventor and a shop can work together on bending sheet metal would be appreciated. Thanks everyone.