topic Re: Circular sheet metal pattern issue in Inventor Forum

Circular sheet metal pattern issue

JonnyPot — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 12:27:49 GMT

Hello everyone. i made a "circular" part like in the picture below and i want the number of folds to changes depending on the diameter.

Example:

I tried making it with a circular pattern in the sketch but when applying the Contour Flange it would only select the first line, if any one know how to fix this or has a better solution it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Re: Circular sheet metal pattern issue

spencer — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 13:45:03 GMT

That's typical behavior of the contour flange tool, where additions to the contour line aren't automatically added to the feature.

I would imagine you want to be able to get a flat pattern of the part, so that does complicate things a bit as far as what you can do. What might work is to make a contour flange of just the first 2 segments, then circular pattern the segments to where the first one of the 'new' is on top of the second one of the 'original', so that you still have bends between the parts. Though you'll need to do something like a direct edit to pull back the sides so they don't collide in the bends, then probably add 2 more small contour flanges to finish off the ends
About like so, but I can't make a full part at the moment to show what I mean

Re: Circular sheet metal pattern issue

jeremy_wasserstrass — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 14:51:51 GMT

One method I have used is lofted flange. The way I have used the lofted flange feature is to set the "facet length" to what I want for my bend spacing, then when I change the radius in the sketch it updates the number of facets. See the example I have attached(2022).

Re: Circular sheet metal pattern issue

JonnyPot — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 00:31:09 GMT

bouth solution are great, thank you very much

Re: Circular sheet metal pattern issue

SBix26 — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 04:19:24 GMT

Here's a different way to tackle this one. The attached file is Inventor 2022 format.

This creates one segment of the ring by calculating its parameters based on the desired segment length, then patterning the calculated number of times around the semi-circle. All based on the diameter (d0 in this case).

You haven't given much in the way of detailed specifications, but this could be refined to dress up the ends a bit.

Sam B

Inventor Pro 2022.2.2 | Windows 10 Home 21H2

Re: Circular sheet metal pattern issue

JonnyPot — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 11:37:45 GMT

It's very good, i just have one question what the "ada" in the parameters stando for. Thank you

Re: Circular sheet metal pattern issue

SBix26 — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 14:32:42 GMT

I have no idea. That parameter is not in the file I have.

Sam B

Inventor Pro 2022.2.2 | Windows 10 Home 21H2

Re: Circular sheet metal pattern issue

johnsonshiue — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 22:06:52 GMT

Hi! "ada" looks like the circumference of the circle.

Many thanks!