Sheet Metal-Extra Material in Corner

[DewayneH]

I am attempting to model an existing part as it is currently being manufactured a simple hopper, and am having an issue with a corner.

Look at the converging corner of the attached file.

How could this be done to avoid the problem? Or can it?

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi DewayneH,

Attached is one approach. It might not be exactly what you're after, but it should give you some ideas.

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

File is saved as Inventor 2010

[DewayneH]

Curtis,

I'm sorry if I was not clear enough on my original post.

Let me try to clarify my intentions.

This hopper is currently made from two pieces. It already exists and I am trying to recreate it. What you see in my attached file is one of the pieces.

The only area I have a problem with is the corner where the four faces converge. If you zoom in you will see there is a small piece of material that is left after the bends are applied.

How can I eliminate this piece of material?

Should I use a different method to produce the bends?

Can the settings be changed in the bends to get rid of this anomaly? 

I really appreciate your effort.

[Anonymous]

Maybe that has something to do with Ver 2010? I am on 2011 and I deleted your flat pattern. I moved the end of part marker above the bends. I tried to add some different bends with no luck. I then moved the end of part marked back down and I did not have that little extra material anymore. Sorry no help for you but FYI for others working on this.

[JDMather]

In 2012 I did a Manage>Rebuild All and that little extra geometry disappears.

[Anonymous]

JD, I just tried the Rebuilt All in 2011 with the same results.

[Curtis_Waguespack]

Hi DewayneH,

It seems Inventor 2010 has some limitations that can be overcome by using a different approach.

Here is another version that does not depart quite so much from you original approach. You can step through the model by using the End Of Part marker in the browser to see how I accomplished this corner. Of particular interest is the Corner Seam feature, which is used to bring the corner together in a tidy manner. In order to get the Corner Seam to work, I've added a couple of Cut features to back the Thicken flanges off of the corner.

This was basically the same approach used in the other version I submitted, but in that one I also used the Lofted Flange tool.

If you're just interested in getting rid of the extra block of geometry I suppose you could sketch on it and the use an Extrude Cut to remove it, but I think you'd run into issues later in the design due to the sloppy corner that results.

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

[DewayneH · Accepted solution]

I do have an install of 2012 and tried it and got the same results as the rest of you.

It definitly looks like a 2010 issue.

Although after analyzing even closer though, I noticed another anamoly where material was removed from the corner adjacent to where the little block had been added .

This prompted me to try some other scenarios. I reordered the bends as I performed the thickens and got a totally differnent outcome.

I have attached the result of my test.

It was done in 2010 by the way. No unwanted added or subtracted material.

Thanks again to everyone for the imput.

[DewayneH]

I wanted to point out that the solution I found is not a good one in a solid body workflow.

In other words...If both halves of this hopper were thickened in a master file then pushed out to the individual parts the re-ordering of the bends would not have been possible.

Something to keep in mind.

[moretti999]

I had very good results by creating the SM features atop of the surfaces of the known geometry.

Use "offset" option on the flange instead of "edge" (give it a good distance) and then corner the flanges with very small gap value (I do normally .1mm) and all looks very well.

See attached result I achieved with your model.