Sheet Metal Cone - Optimize Plate Layout

[andrewdroth]

Fabricating a sheet metal cone that is fabricated from multiple plates. Need to  optimize the plate layout to minimize waste. The plate size is fixed, but the orientation is not. I think this ends up being a a nesting situation, but in reverse?

What is the best way to model a sheet metal cone that is fabricated from multiple plates? Each plate will need to be it's own solid body that can be pushed out to a sheet metal part for DXF extraction.

I have not been able to come up with a workflow that jives with IV. 

See the example attached.

Cone as Contour RollUnfolded- Attempt at Plate LayoutRefolded - With splits at plate seamsResulting Flat Pattern

[Frederick_Law]

I usually split the cone along the length.  Say 10 deg then split that to fit into sheet.

[swalton]

Are you going to:

1. Weld flat sheets together, then roll the resultant panel to make your cone? 
2. Or are you going to cut each sheet, form, then weld the bent panels to make the cone?

[andrewdroth]

I'm looking for solutions to both process actually.

My initial question was weld, then form. And the material is actually thin enough that rolling isn't necessary. You can just pull up on the middle and then clamp and weld the seam together.

But I'd also like to figure out a method of optimizing formed course section sizes for a given cone as well.

[S_May]

@andrewdroth,

[andrewdroth]

Hey Sascha,

That's a good solution for making the separate solids! Thanks.

Now I just need to figure out the best way to layout the sheets.

[S_May]

@andrewdroth,

how do you mean that, every plate with engraving number, finished 

[andrewdroth]

I'm trying to figure out how to orientate the sheets to minimize waste. 

[S_May]

@andrewdroth,

autodesk nesting

[andrewdroth]

The solution I'm looking for will be similar to nesting, but sort of in reverse. Instead of fitting odd shapes within a stock plate, I'm using the stock plates to fill the odd shape.

[andrewdroth]

@S_May, @swalton, @Frederick_Law

This is the other type of cone we make. This one is more common for us, and also presents the issue of optimizing plate usage.

The cone is made in courses, and usually the course sections are identical, but they wouldn't need to be if it meant better material usage. There is a benefit to reducing the amount of weld seems, but depending on the cost of the material it is not always the driving factor.

I'm given the plate sizes, in this case 58"x119", and I need to maximize sheet usage. I can tweak two values to do this, the height of the course, and the number of sections per course.

Right now I'm manually unfolding the curved section, and checking the flat pattern it to a sketch block of the sheet. I then manually iterate those values until I'm using up as much of the sheet as I can. 

Presumably I could facilitate iLogic to help with this, but it seems like a daunting task.

I'm just trying to figure out how other's figure this out effectively and efficiently. 

Laying out the Master PartAssembled Cone

Screencast will be displayed here after you click Post.

33e48a08-3874-45f3-8805-679b6abe1747

[andrewdroth]

"Screencast will be displayed here after you click Post."

Hmmmmm