Inventor sheet metal flat pattern work flow

[emanuel.c]

I've encountered this issue many times and it is frustrating. After using CUT on a bent flange, the flat pattern gives me more than a single edge, in other words it is not a square edge. I understand the thinking behind it, that it's what would happen in real life, however for the purpose of cutting that flat pattern on a machine having two edges is not helpful at all. The machine always throws errors because of overlapping or opened lines or splines etc. I would much rather it gave me a square edge, either the inside or the outside one.

Could I change anything in the design work flow or what could be done to avoid this. Any thoughts are appreciated!

[JDMather · Accepted solution]

Set your Cut feature to Cut Normal or Cut Across Bend as appropriate.

[AdamAG99T · Accepted solution]

I think clicking the "cut normal" option in the cut dialog box should accomplish what you want. It will cut the bent part in such a way that the flat pattern ends up without the odd edges, however this does result in a slightly distorted bent part. 

[JDMather · Accepted solution]

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@AdamAG99T wrote:

... however this does result in a slightly distorted bent part. 

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...realistic bend.

[emanuel.c]

Thank you! That's what I was looking for.