Sheet metal bend line

[tachamb]

Is there any way to take a flat file, and bend along a line.  I am able to make the flat flange from a DXF but do not want to bend along and edge but rather bend part way down the face of the file.  In the image below I would like to bend along the construction like that is 2.009" away from the right edge.

[saito.kh · Accepted solution]

Hi @timc,

Welcome to the Fusion community!

Thanks for your posting.  At this time unfortunately there is not option to fold a face along a sketched line in Fusion sheet metal.

If you would like to see this feature please feel free to add an idea in the Fusion 360 IdeaStation or vote up similar ideas like the one below.
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/ideastation-request-a-feature-or/export-parasolid-fusion-360/idi-p/58...

As I tried to bend a face along a line, I unfolded a plane with a flange and trimmed with the sketch line; then refolded it.

Hope this helps!

Thank you.

[tachamb]

Thank you saito.kh. - That is a great idea until a bend along a sketch like is added as a feature.  I really appreciate you looking at this and giving me your input.

Thanks again!!

[SEIZMICdesign]

This solved the problem for me as well, but I do have a question... or a scenario..

So I pulled the flanges off my flat, flattened, and did the cut. The way I drew my cut was perfectly tangent with the part sketch in the flat. So when I measured my flange length I measured it in the flat. Of course once I flattened the flanges they were longer than the sketch and therefore there was excess material on either side of my part. My solution was to create a new sketch on the flattened part and measure from the bend line to the end of the part, go back and use that number for the length of my flanges. It got me close enough, but I was wondering if there might be a more accurate way to achieve this.

Math was never one of my stronger skills, and I'm still trying to master all the sheet metal settings, so I may be missing something obvious here.

EDIT: Sorry - I think what happened now that I've had some coffee is that at first I didn't measure my flanges and just pulled them past the cut, which left excess material. Then I attempted to measure from the sketch which wound up being too short. Then I measured from the flattened part which is "close enough" but just wondering if there was a more technically accurate way to achieve this, or does one just over build the cut?

Thanks!

[TheCADWhisperer]

@SEIZMICdesign

Wouldn't it make logical sense to model in the finished form - that way you don't have to do any calculations and Fusion takes care of the Bend Allowance for you.

(see attached)

[SEIZMICdesign]

Interesting solution. I had no idea that was possible. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

How would you bend this flat pattern where each centerline is the bend line and will be dimensioned from the edges?

I think it will be time consuming to perform such bends by creating flanges.

[TheCADWhisperer]

@Anonymous

If it were my work - I would model in finished form.

[Anonymous]

Agree to disagree. 

It would be acceptable to do a couple of them but imagine to this for thousands.  We can't afford to spend time to redo all of them from scratches.  It would be more efficient and simpler to import the dwg, locate and dimension bend lines, and bend them.  When we detail the flat pattern, all dimensions will be parametric and locate exactly where they should be.  All this will be possible with one or two hours max works in Wildfire or Creo.

[TheCADWhisperer]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

...  All this will be possible with ... Creo.

---

You are comparing Fusion with a mature professional product.

Autodesk Inventor Professional is the Autodesk product equivalent of Creo.

Inventor Professional already has a full set of "Sheet Metal" tools, including Fold of a Bend Line.

I don't recall when this was added to Autodesk Inventor Professional, but I am guessing around 10-12 years ago.

Autodesk Inventor Professional

Students can download Autodesk Inventor Professional for free from http://www.autodesk.com/edcommunity

[Anonymous]

Thank you for letting me know that Inventor have this feature.

Granted, it's unfair that I am not compared orange with orange here.  I simply wish that this feature will be added to Fusion 360 in the future.

[Anonymous]

I would love this feature as well. Being new to CAD and Fusion, I assumed this type of functionality would be a fundamental necessity. I was surprised to learn the software doesn't allow this. 

[nikhil.naikNLKQG]

Hi @tachamb

A new feature "Bend" has been added to Fusion 360 Sheet Metal workspace, available with March 2019 update. It gives user the ability to bend a sheet metal body along a sketched line. Seems, this is what you were looking for and other participants of this thread as well expressed their interest for the command.

Please find more information in this What's New update:

https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/blog/march-11-2019-product-update-whats-new/#Modeling

Hope it helps.

[tachamb]

Yes, I took advantage of the update the day it was released and many times since. Grateful for a company that listens to customer input and takes action when appropriate.

[Anonymous]

BRAVO!!!! As a beginner, this missing feature caused me much grief. In fact, eventually I had to go pay a Solidworks guy to create my sheet metal design because I didn’t have the Fusion360 chops to do it without the bend line functionality. Great work!!!