Thicken Feature

[jnguyenNYHVK]

Having difficulty with thicken feature and need assistance. Trying to expand 2mm on part edges/border. There is an error message, and I am unable to work around it.

[kacper.suchomski]

Hi

Move the end of part marker to the start of history and perform this operation first.

[ccec_ireland]

I received the same error. I attempted to break the problem down to localize it and was able to apply a 2mm thicken to all edges except for those adjacent to this inside corner/bend area. All four of those small faces produced the same error when attempted independently. 

[Alexander_Chernikov]

Try another way: after removing the edges, extend the remaining surface by 2 mm outwards and then add thickness.

And the place indicated by @ccec_ireland  still has a problem...

[ccec_ireland]

I get a different error when trying this at the beginning of the part, but it's pointing to the same place as the problem. It seems it can't resolve the flat pattern. I think you need a different work flow to create the offset effect. 

[kacper.suchomski]

In the behavior section you should indicate automatic connection. This works because I did it before writing my first comment.

[swalton · Accepted solution]

I'm on Inventor 2025, so I can't upload a file in 2023 format.

Why is Thicken1 set to 0.5 in when the Sheetmetal thickness is 6.35 mm?  A better workflow will be to use the "Thickness" parameter for the distance value in Thicken1.

Why are the inside corners sharp?  How will the part be manufactured?

After playing with the supplied model and assuming:

1. A flat pattern is required.
2. The sheetmetal Thickness of 6.35 mm is correct, not the 0.5 inch of Thicken1.

I used Thicken to grow the parameter by 2 mm.

The faces shown below are a problem.

Delete Face and Heal to the rescue!

Delete Face without the Heal options to get the inner face as a surface.

Thicken by the Sheet Metal parameter.  Inventor could not thicken and unfold by 0.5 inches.

I used Unfold not Flat pattern just to check my modeling workflow.  Either will work, but I got fewer error messages as I tried different ways to fix the part.

Flat pattern is good.

Finally,

If the final part needs to be 0.5 inches thick with a flat pattern, then the sheetmetal tools are not the right way to model the part.  Sheetmetal assumes the part thickness is uniform.  It is not possible to have a part with uniform thickness of 0.5" and an outer bend radius of 10mm.

[jnguyenNYHVK]

Thanks Steve.

Yes, the original part is a sheetmetal. I tried the back route of using the original part profile and thicken it up to use as check gage made out of 3D print.