Combine 2 different flanges to the same body?

[mk4ever]

This is a screenshot of a sample of what I'm trying to do. I have  profile in an approximation sketch (the 'tongue' is missing, Should have added that..), with separate curves for flanges in another sketch.

My final goal end should be similar to body I made in the background (everything should be the same thickness, and the "tongue" protrusion in the middle should be straight), but I can't figure out how to do 2 different bends to the same body properly using metal sheet flanges. Folding/unfolding allows me to select only 1 curve at a time.

Is there a way?

Thank you.

[TheCADWhisperer]

@mk4ever 

Can you File>Export your *.f3d file to your local drive and then Attach it here to a Reply?

[mk4ever]

I deleted the one I took the screenshot from, as I didn't see how it can be useful, since I couldn't do the operations I wanted to do in the first place (no error, I simply couldn't select more than one curve).

I created another one. I hope it helps somehow.

I actually looked at your video, among other videos, and did some search, but couldn't find anything about doing additional flanges from curves, rather than flat surfaces.

Thank you for looking into this and trying to help 🙂

[Warmingup1953]

You do not appear to have a bend radius here:

[TheCADWhisperer]

@mk4ever 

Your sketches are not fully defined.

I only work with fully defined sketches.

[mk4ever]

It's just a approximation of what I want the final shape to look like. It's not exact. If you look at the history, you'll find this part was not created through metal sheet flanges.

I'm trying to get to that shape from what I created in the sketches and metal sheet flanges directly. I actually want the bend radius the metal rules make.

[jhackney1972]

I think the key to this is to get an straight extrusion, from the cutout edge, to create the Flange on.  Then you can modify the extrusion length until it allows for the sheet metal bend but does not show any flat area.  Model attached.

[laughingcreek]

John-I think the crux of the problem isn't modeling it, but getting it to unfold after.  I gave it a go with a couple of deferent approaches and couldn't get it to unfold after. your approach doesn't seem to unfold either.

@mk4ever - I suspect this is a limitation (bug) of the sheetmetal solver.  the curved profile is considered a "bend" by the solver, and it can't seem to handle having a bend in a bend.

[jhackney1972]

Did you download and try to unfold my attached file.  It unfolded for me at least at one point in its creation.

[laughingcreek]

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@jhackney1972 wrote:

Did you download and try to unfold my attached file.  It unfolded for me at least at one point in its creation.

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yep, I did.  unfolds fine before the extra bits in question  are added.  fails to unfold after they are added

[jhackney1972]

What extra bits did I miss? 

[laughingcreek]

It is actually very interesting that flat pattern works even though unfold doesn't work.  maybe that will be good enough for the OP.

[Warmingup1953]

The next challenge will be on the Shop Floor!

[mk4ever]

Thank you for trying, but in my opinion it's not that different from the solution I used to show what I want the final shape to look like.

My issue is I want this to all be done from the sketches, not create more sketches after the first flange is created to create the next flange.

Think of it this way: if the tongue flange was supposed to be another curve, and not just a straight line, your solution wouldn't work. The flange option you used in my opinion is more like (extrude straight while respecting the rules for metal sheets), but it's not following a curve.

If you notice in the file, you'll see I already made a second small curve for the tongue in sketch 2. I probably should have made it a real spline curve to demonstrate my point. I don't want to predict where the beginning of the tongue will be after I create the body. I want to figure out if I can use the small curve in sketch 2 the way it is, to create the tongue.

So I guess my initial question wasn't specific enough. Is there a way to do 2 flanges on the same body from curves in the same sketch like in my file? Maybe split the profile in some way so the tongue can get both flanges/bends, while the rest of the profile gets only the first flange/curve, then combine the parts?

If there's no way (a limit in Fusion 360), I already know I have my solution (needs a bit more tweaking) and yours, and I can think of yet another solution. But all of them are still more work (my real model is more complex, and I have to make multiple different versions of it, and tongue angle changes based on some variables), so I'm hoping there's another way to just use the curves already in the sketch to do flanges, with no further manual work afterwards.

Thank you.

[Warmingup1953]

Ho will you make your final design?

[mk4ever]

By "defined", do you mean all constraints are there? Using parameters? If not, would you kindly elaborate what "defined" means? I'm still relatively a beginner.

As for the final design, I'm recognizing I need to upload that instead of a sample/demo. But I'm having an unrelated issue with metal sheet rules and refolding (some error about constraints for the tight bend for the tongue, no issues without it). I'll upload once I figure it out, and define the sketches if I can.

Thank you.

[mk4ever]

I hope this is properly defined? I spent hours on this, recreating my design from scratch, to make sketches defined (I think). I ran into many errors that I don't fully understand (about over-constrained, mainly). Changing a few things helped avoid the errors, but I still don't fully understand what exactly caused those errors.

I also managed to do what I want (flange from another curve, but from a different sketch), but this only works as a second flange (not exactly combining with the first flange), provided I have a flat surface to start from. If the original flange was all curves (my original question), this (according to my limited knowledge) won't work.

I don't know if anyone is still interested in trying further, but I feel I answered my own question: Fusion is limited when it comes to doing flanges, and a second flange has to be independent from the first flange and has to start from a flat surface. If combining flanges possible, where the second doesn't need a flat surface to begin from, I'd love for someone to show me how.

My latest solution also won't work for changing the parameters, when it comes to the second flange. But I feel this is more related to the fact that the curve for the second flange isn't moving properly with changing the parameters, so this is technically a different issue (or lack of my knowledge for how to do this properly).

Thank you for everyone who tried to help.