Normal Cut in Sheet Metal

[Anonymous]

Quite a few comments have been made about how incredible it is that Inventor still does not have a functional normal cut option for sheet metal like Solidworks and Solidedge have long had and I agree.  I realize that there are the standard workflows like using derive and thicken to get around this problem.  However, for those interested, there is a way to make a normal cut (for laser/cnc) directly in the sheet metal part in many cases.  It involves using a sketch to split a face and then using the resulting profile for a thicken/cut feature.  The attached images illustrate somewhat.  I'm always interested in any other methods out there for obtaining normal cuts in complex sheet metal (for a clean dxf export).  By the way, Autodesk, do you actually not have any plans of ever adding functionality in this area?

Inventor 2013

[mrattray]

This is my method, although many here seem to shy away from it.

[Anonymous]

Yes, that will result in a true sheet metal cut as well and its a good way to get true round cutouts in the flat layout, but if you want a true round in the rolled part (to insert a pipe, etc.) you can't get there that way.  Thanks for your reply.

[Lance127]

i JUST GO TO THE FLAT PATTERN AND EXTRUDE THE EXCESS MATERIAL OUT.

[mrattray]