Adjustable"zigzag" plate

[Rasmus.C]

Hi everyone,

I am finding it surprisingly difficult to model an adjustable "zigzag" plate similar to the attached picture, and would greatly appreaciate some suggestions. Before covering my efforts, here are the fairly simple requirements for the part:

1. Adjustable bend angle, pitch (distance between bends) and total number of bends parameters - to be able to control the final (bent) plate length and surface area. 
2. The end flanges needs to be colinear / flat, so that the plate may easily be attached to a frame, without being sensitive to the bending tolerances.

If you care, this is what I have attempted (unsusscesfully) so far:

• Contour flange + rectangular pattern. Problem illustrated in attached screenshot.
• Sketch pattern. Making a rectagular pattern of the desired "V" shape does not constrain them together, and Inventor only recognizes individual triangles / "V"s.
• Connecting two contour flanges with a bend + rectangular pattern. Inventor does not like patterning bend features (even though parent is also being patterned).
• Creating multiple contour flanges (edge extend) and using iLogic to adjust the final number by feature suppresion. This makes it difficult to model the final flange, which should be colinear with the first flange.

The most relevant similar example I could find was this issue, but the nature of the zigzag plate has made it difficult to make rectangular patterns viable for me thus far. Looking forward to your thoughts and suggestions!

[-niels-]

Something like this?

[JDMather]

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@-niels- wrote:

Something like this?

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Broke on my first test?

[-niels-]

Ah, yeah... only works with uneven numbers...
Back to the drawing board... eh, pc...

[Rasmus.C]

Hi Niels,

Thank you very much. I think that might actually work. I did not think about sketching the radius to ensure that the face would be perpendicular to the next.

I will attempt to create the part and return with feedback.

Best regards

[-niels- · Accepted solution]

Ok, retry... this should work better.

[Rasmus.C]

Thanks Niels,

Sketching the radius works out nicely, and the contour flange works well with rectangular pattern.

[SBix26]

I see I'm a little late to the party, but here's my model, very similar to Niels' version, although I didn't actually use any Sheet Metal tools (except Flat Pattern).

Sam B

Inventor Professional 2018.2.1
Windows 7 SP1

[WHolzwarth]

Hmm. I've tried a Studio animation.

But this silly error message (see video) was a show-stopper

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@WHolzwarth wrote:

Hmm. I've tried a Studio animation.

But this silly error message (see video) was a show-stopper

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Delete the Flat Pattern.

[WHolzwarth]

Doesn't help, Jeffrey

[TheCADWhisperer · Accepted solution]

I didn't try this, but what if you

Delete the Flat Pattern

and

Environments>Convert to Standard Part?

[WHolzwarth]

Excellent advice, Jeffrey.

That did it.

Thanks