Nesting grain direction

[barry9UDQ6]

I am sure one of you experienced forumites can explain this better to me than my Googling attempts. Which is my first issue below. And then a second issue as well, just for good measure!

• The client I am supplying cutfiles to (in 5086 3/16 aluminium) says that he has had problems in the past with flanges under-bending. I do know that he has a really good CNC bender.He mentioned the material grain, and I see Fusion makes provision for this in the nesting settings. Is the idea to keep the bend lines at 0 or 90?

• If so this poses a new problem. Some of my flat patterns come through at pretty odd angles, more like a 45 deg orientation. So in setting the deviation and increment to a smaller number to accommodate a few of the skew parts, it results in all the rest of the parts on the sheet also coming in skew. It doesn't seem like I can only apply the deviation increment to a few select parts on the sheet and leave the rest as is.

[phillip.doup]

Hello @barry9UDQ6 ,

We don't truly support grain in the Nesting extension just yet, in that you can't specify some arbitrary geometry to use as the reference orientation (0 degree), but you can specify an orientation on the parts themselves. You can do that here: 

This essentially rotates the part to that orientation BEFORE nesting rotates it further. You can use this to ensure that the grain is properly oriented on that part. 

In order to satisfy the bending constraints, now that you can orient the parts correctly, you need to prevent rotation to 90 and 270 degrees for those parts. You can do this on a part-by-part basis by the following in the same Component Sources command as above:

You can also invert these options by not allowing those rotations by default on the material and instead allowing free rotation for those parts that do not matter.

[barry9UDQ6]

Thanks very much @phillip.doup I didn't see the option for each part as you have so nicely laid it out.

As my practical knowledge of sheet metal is limited. I am also hoping for some knowledge of what material grain is in relation to bending direction.

It sounds like you are saying that it is better if bend lines only lie along the length of the part?

Although this wouldn't work for a box with 4 sides, as the bending lines would need to be at 0 and 90 deg.

[phillip.doup]

Hello @barry9UDQ6 ,

The direction of bend lines relative to the sheet of material is highly dependent on the material and constraints of the bender, etc. You are correct in that a box with 4 sides will have little impact, that doesn't mean orientation still wouldn't matter. Perhaps certain bends are sharper than others, and grain on certain materials can make it hard to bend some of those sharper bends. 

I'll invite @MattWynn to join the conversation as he may have some more specific experience with something like this.

[barry9UDQ6]

All the bends are usually done with a 3/8 radius.

[MattWynn]

Yes, aluminum, and other sheet metals, are easier to bend in different directions.  Ask your client what direction is best for them.

Deviations and increments should be 0.0 almost all the time, allowing more rotations often creates large gaps in nesting, especially when mixing large and small parts.

Turn off 90 and 270 and set the initial orientation on individual parts to oriend them best.