Create dots for press brake for folding HVAC transitions

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am doing a lot of sheet metal developments for HVAC round-round and round-square transitions. I need to create small dots approximately 5 mm from the edges of the sheet metal part intersecting all the bend lines so that guys at the press brake would know where to bend the part. Our plasma cutting machine will mark those small dots on sheet metal and they will just bend the part according to these dots. 

The process of creating a dxf file with the dots is very long and cubersome for me and I would like to ask if anyone has a quicker method of doing this and / or i-logic rule that would automate this process. 

My procedure is as follows: 

1. Create a lofted flange with press brake option (chord tolerance 1 mm)

2. Create a rip and unfold the part

3. Create a sketch and project cut edges 

4. Manually draw 5 mm lines over the bend centerlines from both edges of the flat pattern

5. Remove the project cut edges from the sketch

6. Remove all extra projected lines

7. Export sketch as dxf

8. Open autocad and draw point on each endpoint of 5 mm lines.

9. Delete 5 mm lines.

The final result is a sheet metal development that has points on the bend centerlines that are 5 mm from the edges of the part. You can see the final result in the attachment. 

Can you please give me an advice on how to do this quicker and be more productive? 

Thank you 

[Mark_Wigan · Accepted solution]

your approach sounds ok. there may be slightly quicker ways of adding and deleting the geometry but it wouldn't save you too many grey hairs i don't think.

i have worked with guys who have bought add ons or other software to add those hit points. some of them even use old autolisp routines out of autocad to add the little "bubble-in" or "bubble-out" markers to the end of the bend lines. if i get time i will have a look but i would start by checking the Autodesk Exchange / App store, or maybe do a google search on something like the SPI Sheetmetal software that runs inside inventor to see if it can add automatic functionality for all those kind of things... it has been a long while sorry!

you could even take a look at the customisation area of these forumns, you may find people sharing these add ons or lisp routines.

i guess it depends how many times you have to do this each day. some of those sheetmetal addons were expensice but massive time savers before our basic cad software started doing sheetmetal, but they are dedicated programs and would save you thousands of dollars if you do this on a significant scale as they can do more than inventor alone.