Bending a curved part

[Anonymous]

I am trying to bend a convex part, but can't seem to make it work.  Any help would be great

Inventor Pro 2014, SP1

[TrentMayberry3]

Hi, before I start out I'd like to say that I am extremely new to Inventor, so there's probably not a whole lot I can help you with, but I'm looking at the part and I'm just wondering which piece on it you are looking to bend.

[Anonymous]

 The three tabs are curved and need to be bent down.  I made them solid lofts, cause I could figure out how to make them sheet metal lofts.  These tabs need to bent down, as shown in the drawing.

[JDMather]

I would not use Fold.

I would not use Bend.

I would model in the finished form.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi albmopar,

Attached is a real quick example file that should give you some ideas about how you might approach this. Note that I made no attempt to follow the dimensions and inputs, and only roughly followed the shape of the part. So look to this example as a tip towards the general methods and tools to use and not as a step by step of how you should proceed.

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

[Anonymous]

I can get the basic shape like you have Curtis, my issue is if you notice, the taps are curved (concave).  I can't figure out how to bend (fold) them over to get the shape.

[JDMather]

If I understand the geometry - Inventor will not generate a Flat Pattern for this design.

Do you only need the finished part - or do you also need the Flat Pattern?