Sheet Metal Hem dialogue improvements

[fridtjofZM5ME]

The Hem dialogue has a lot of room for improvments, some of my suggestions are probably allready proposed by someone else, but I'd like to present my take on it.

1. Having to click "Apply" for each hem seems unnessecarily labour intensive, please allow us to choose multiple edges. An interface similar to the new Fillet dialogue where you can create a multitude of different fillets for different edges within the same feature entity in the model tree seems like a sensible approach to it.
   1. 1 This will will present us with a choice to be made regarding how to make any corners that will overlap as a result; something similar to the existing corner command used for flanges would be great, where you can choose to split the corner at an angle with the gap size you define, or to choose the axis that will rule which hem has priority and which one will be adjusted to fit inside the priority hem. The latter could also be useful if you have a loop select option. Then you could choose the priority axis based on the origin axis (or a geometry axis for that matter) so all hems parallel to the axis you choose will have priority and the rest will be adjusted to fit inside the former.

2. Hemming will in any cases where the edges intersect result in having to choose a relief shape, the existing one works fine, but the hem feature as a whole leaves a lot of sharp corners that you then would have to utilize the Corner Round command to round off if you wish to. This is something I routinely do so much that I feel it would be rational to embed the option to do this inside the Hem command. Obviously only if you use the same radius on all corners. An option to later "explode" the individual corners you choose (NOT an all-or-nothing option) to a separate feature that can then be edited could be useful in this regard

3. In some cases where your're modifying a copy of a previous model to create a new one, it could be useful to have the option to convert a hem to a flange, or vers visa, so that any projected edges in sketches consumed by features further down the tree would still be preserved, as opposed to what will happen if you just move the EOF up to the feature you're changing and just delete it to create flange (or hem) instead, and then move the EOF down to the bottom again. Resolving unresolved sketches is a frustrating task....

[djhilario88]

hola amigo perdona no ablarte en ingles ,pero lo primero que tienen que corregir en chapa esta gente es la tabla de pliegues que te mando ,el radio de pliegue en autodesk inventor no es correcto para las chapas de 3mm,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 ect....tambien deberia calcular el borde minimo para cada grueso de chapa ..si puedes mandar la idea en tu idioma mejor ,,,un saludo

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[fridtjofZM5ME]

@djhilario88The forum is in English, so we'll just have to cope with that I guess. Hopefully Google translate will preserve the essence of my answer here.

As far as I can tell, your table is used to calulate the the neccesary force for bending a piece of sheet metal, and suggesting an appropriate die-tool for the sheet thickness. Although it's not embedded in Inventor, there are software out there that does this, and much more, for you. Calulating both bend radius and K-factor, generating bend sequences for the pressbrake etc. We use FCC softwares AutoPOL for this. That particular software lets you calculate the K-factor and the bend radius from a test sample that you make, and yields fairly accurate values that can then be used in Inventor. Both Inventor and AutoPOL features functionality to unfold your design, so what I've done is to run the test sample procedure in AutoPOL, export a flat pattern from an imported inventor-file from AutoPOL to DXF, then open this in AutoCAD and measure the unfold length. I then compare that to the unfold length in Inventor, and adjust the K-factor in the Sheet Metal Style of Inventor until the measured unfold length in Inventor is equal to the unfold length of the exported DXF-file, note that I input the AutoPOL-calculated bend radius in the design in Inventor prior to this. This has so far produced reliably accurate results when bending laser cut parts. So given that you input the actual measured bend radius and measured K-factor for your particular material and sheet metal thickness, Inventor mostly get it right.

Below is a screen dump illustrating the measuring procedure from the software we use. Take note of the calculated bend radius (Ri) at the bottom of the upper window. It's not an even number. So the conclusion is that the bend radius is something you have to measure for each thickness of each material you use, and should also be verifyed by a new measurement for each batch of sheet metal.

[djhilario88]

Hello, I am translating English into Spanish, I will explain what the inventor is missing, if or if he is still light years away because he needs many things to simplify, he needs to calculate the radius of the sheet depending on the thickness, see if it is You can fold a piece with a fold simulator ... also calculate from the fold matrix what minimum flange length it admits ... and many more things that you would have to pay me ... do not name me autopol, program the autodesk inventor to that these applications have within the same software ... another thing that is missing is that when creating the plans in .dwg they can be exported to dxf for laser cutting.
a greeting