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We bend round stock for handles, also sometimes other material such as alum extrusions to form handles or steps. Inventor has a flat pattern tool for sheet metal. It would be helpful to have a similar tool that works with other shapes besides sheet metal in order to get an overall length for any bent part. I use flat part information with iLogic to populate the description field in iProperties that then transfers to the BOM.
Sorry for not being clear on this, but we need the functionality to unfold like swept profiles and bent parts. For example a hydraulic tube, round tube profile chair frame and things like that....
This is totally defeating free design - if i would accept that comment, i would lean in the direction of focus on software not design - where it should be the other way around.
Sorry I don't follow. I only have what is on this page to understand your thoughts, I can't read your mind.
I was looking for your use case(s), and I think you're saying in you're last comment is that creating the part in straight form and bending (and using a part LOD to show it in both states) it not the way you need/want to design. You want to model the formed shape and flatten that.
If that's the case, no worries. But again we need you to be clear about your idea. To me they are related ideas, to you they are not? If that's the case, then that's the information to include.
What i am thinking is that i need some functionality that will allow me to unfold a swept profile, kind of like the sheet metal environment inside inventor. so for example:
1. when i create a 3d sketch, 3in. in the X direction, then 3" y direction and maybe 6" in the z direction > create a profile at the end of my line to sweep (for sake of argument let's say a round .5" circle) > click on sweep > pick my 3d sketch as the path and the profile sketch as my profile sketch > now i have a solid > in order to produce this i need to flatten it > because i need to bend this round swept profile with a tube bender, so i need to be able to document and relate to the shop floor on what the raw or unprocessed material should look like. So what i am thinking is that we should be able unfold by picking the section definition and telling the software to unfold the model.
2. for example for somebody working on a plastic profile shaped as a Z. but he wants to start modeling from a flat sheet, so he would model a rectangle>bend it twice> and then have the ability to unfold it, so that he can see exactly what is going on. of course this would mean defining a few parameters for each fold and for some parts not even make sense, but this would improve just like the sheet metal environment.
1) So I think in many cases (not all) for deformations like this, we could just specify the start or result length. Meaning if I had a swept profile, I would say "unfold" this to be 48 inches long and the unformed version would be a straight 48" piece. This is where the idea for LOD for parts comes in, as we will want to show the part in both states at the same time ( formed in the assembly, not formed in the drawing).
Do you think just being able to specify the unfolded length would be adequate, or would you want the software to do some calculation to arrive at that length? Or would we want both options, just depending? What other "unfold" methods would be needed?
2) We can do the Z part now using the Bend Part tool or the Sheet Metal tools. In the past I've done plastic parts like that as sheet metal parts and it worked fine, I just created sheet metal rules for our plastic parts.
Is there some case that you can think of where the Bend Part or Sheet Metal tools would not work?
In your second paragraph i think you hit the point, we need both options, unfold length and the calculation > the point that i can not stress most is the fact that we should be able to run this no matter how the tube was created. Sometimes it may start as an content center component, yet in the next minute i need to bend it, then totally extrude away both features and create a complex sweep..... design freedom...
"we should be able to run this no matter how the tube was created"
I get that this is what you want, but it's software not magic, so how does the software know the unfolded shape and length that you expect to see?
How the shape was created has typically been important in figuring out hot to flatten it. I think I hear you saying you don't care, just give you the correct result. But in order to get that correct result, the inputs matter right?
But then for #2, which is that picture, I would currently create that as a flat part then create the 2 bend using the Bend Part tool. The LOD for parts idea, would then allow us to show both states. So to me that one can be done once the LOD for parts idea is implemented.
For #1, 'm not sure about how it would be implemented, or how you think the correct un-bent length would be arrived at, but I think I understand what you're asking for enough now, so I'll give it a vote.
I really do not care about my tube length i want my bend information plugged into the system and then be able to document away from it. and have the software react according. Tubes is one simple thing what about everything else.
Somebody just has to come up with an idea on how to handle the unfolding situation, whether it would require selecting more faces or different settings - but at the time it is a PAIN.
well I think other Inventor customers who would use this newly proposed feature would care about it, and so that's the part of the idea that would need to be sussed out.
Like in sheetmetal mode, it would be great if Inventor will be able to flattern or set straighten a curved tube or a bar. It may be use a simple Kfactor method. The final scope is to calculate the lenght of the initial tube to cut.
Just came across another application where this would be useful. We are rolling a structural angle piece. Not very common but we do it occasionally.
I modeled the final rolled state. It would be nice if Inventor could calculate the location of the centroid/neutral axis and straighten the angle along this and give me the straight piece model/"flat pattern" that I can place on the Drawing and pull the pre-roll length from.
We’re archiving this Idea because it's been on the board for well over a year and hasn't received many votes from the community. If you want to raise it again and try to gain more support, you're welcome to do so.
