Deleting flat pattern Bendlines OR Tangentlines

[Anonymous]

Can anyone comment, suggest, advise if the following might be achieved --

We make quite a lot of components in sheet metal that are best described generically as a flat, followed by an arc, followed by a flat. These are manufactured either by pressing up a flange (giving a tight radius), or rolling between the extents of arc (giving a large radius). I hope the attached sketch illustrates.

If I create a flat pattern and save a dxf for laser cutting I can keep or delete both/either the bend lines or tangent lines. The thing is, if we press up a flange the fabricators want an etched bend line while if we want the rolled option they want etched tangent lines. If the dxf is imported into ACAD it can be manually modified accordingly.

But can "something" be done within Inventor from a set of rules to automatically identify if the radius is "small" so deleting the corresponding tangent lines keeping the bend line, or "large" so keeping the tangent lines and deleting the bend line.

Automation was a driving force behind introducing Inventor, so the powers that be are not keep seeing stuff apparently being "drawn" in ACAD.

Any takers??

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, this isn't currently possible. However, better API coverage
for flat pattern is high on our priorities for the near future. And the
workflow that you describe below is indeed something that we intend to
address very soon.

Sanjay-

wrote in message news:[email protected]...
Can anyone comment, suggest, advise if the following might be achieved --

We make quite a lot of components in sheet metal that are best described
generically as a flat, followed by an arc, followed by a flat. These are
manufactured either by pressing up a flange (giving a tight radius), or
rolling between the extents of arc (giving a large radius). I hope the
attached sketch illustrates.

If I create a flat pattern and save a dxf for laser cutting I can keep or
delete both/either t
he bend lines or tangent lines. The thing is, if we press up a flange the
fabricators want an etched bend line while if we want the rolled option they
want etched tangent lines. If the dxf is imported into ACAD it can be
manually modified accordingly.

But can "something" be done within Inventor from a set of rules to
automatically identify if the radius is "small" so deleting the
corresponding tangent lines keeping the bend line, or "large" so keeping the
tangent lines and delet
ing the bend line.

Automation was a driving force behind introducing Inventor, so the powers
that be are not keep seeing stuff apparently being "drawn" in ACAD.

Any takers??

[Anonymous]

Thanks for response.
I've been thinking further and in practice an individual part is unlikely have both a pressed flange AND a rolled section.

A pressed flange would be created using the Flange command, so would there be any possibility of checking the part for a flange, if yes create the flat pattern DXF with one XML file deleting the tangent lines, if no create the flat pattern DXF with a second XML file deleting the bend line??

[Anonymous]

I found this in the help files so it seems I can identify if a flange exists in the part

Dim oSheetMetalCompDef As SheetMetalComponentDefinition
Set oSheetMetalCompDef = oPartDoc.ComponentDefinition
' Iterate through the features looking specifically for sheet metal features.
Dim oFeature As PartFeature
For Each oFeature In oSheetMetalCompDef.Features
Select Case oFeature.Type
Case kFlangeFeatureObject

Then use the following to format the DXF file

Dim oDataIO As DataIO
Set oDataIO = oDoc.ComponentDefinition.DataIO
' Build the string that defines the format of the DXF file.
Dim sOut As String
sOut = "FLAT PATTERN DXF?AcadVersion=R12&OuterProfileLayer=Outer"
oDataIO.WriteDataToFile sOut, "c:\temp\flat2.dxf"

Maybe this is the solution?

[Anonymous]

I think this may work only partially. The best you can do when extracting
the DXF file is to put bends and tangents on two different named layers. You
would then need to manually turn off the unwanted layer when viewing the
DXF.

Sanjay-

wrote in message news:[email protected]...
I found this in the help files so it seems I can identify if a flange exists
in the part

Dim oSheetMetalCompDef As SheetMetalComponentDefinition
Set oSheetMetalCompDef = oPartDoc.ComponentDefinition
' Iterate through the features looking specifically for sheet metal
features.
Dim oFeature As PartFeature
For Each oFeature In oSheetMetalCompDef.Features
Select Case oFeature.Type
Case kFlangeFeatureObject

Then use the following to format the DXF file

Dim oDataIO As DataIO
Set oDataIO = oDoc.ComponentDefinition.DataIO
' Build the string that defines the format of the DXF file.
Dim sOut As String
sOut = "FLAT PATTERN DXF?AcadVersion=R12&OuterProfileLayer=Outer"
oDataIO.WriteDataToFile sOut, "c:\temp\flat2.dxf"

Maybe this is the solution?

[Anonymous]

"The best you can do when extracting the DXF file is to put bends and tangents on two different named layers. You would then need to manually turn off the unwanted layer when viewing the DXF."

I could rename layers in IV R10, can't I --
1) delete a layer in IV R11 in the same way as renaming them?
or
2) choose which XML file to use when creating the DXF since in IV R11 the XML includes the option to delete layers?

I'm not viewing the DXF files but sending them directly to the laser with no manual intervention, automation is the name of the game.

[Anonymous]

Neither of those 2 are supported via the API (unless there's something I'm
missing).

Sanjay-

wrote in message news:[email protected]...
"The best you can do when extracting the DXF file is to put bends and
tangents on two different named layers. You would then need to manually turn
off the unwanted layer when viewing the DXF."

I could rename layers in IV R10, can't I --
1) delete a layer in IV R11 in the same way as renaming them?
or
2) choose which XML file to use when creating the DXF since in IV R11 the
XML includes the option to delete layers?

I'm not viewing the DXF files but sending them directly to the laser with no
manual intervention, automation is the name of the game.

[Anonymous]

Maybe in a future version ...

Meanwhile back to hacking the DXF file in VB after creating it in IV!

[Anonymous]

"Neither of those 2 are supported via the API (unless there's something I'm missing)."

... but in IV 2008

[Anonymous]

Now that the embargo on discussing IV 2008 has been lifted

http://discussion.autodesk.com/thread.jspa?threadID=543566

Is there anything in in 2008 that will assist my problem??

[Anonymous]

The API has significant enhancements in this area for 2008. The API provides
access to the various bend and tangent edges. You can also query the radius
of the bend that the bend/tangent lines are associated with. Finally, the
API provides the ability to assign an edge to a custom layer. We are still
working on an issue with being able to turn off specific layers when the
flat pattern is output to DXF. But if this last issue is addressed, I
believe you will have everything you need for your workflow.

Sanjay-

wrote in message news:[email protected]...
Now that the embargo on discussing IV 2008 has been lifted

http://discussion.autodesk.com/thread.jspa?threadID=543566

Is there anything in in 2008 that will assist my problem??

[Anonymous]

".. I believe you will have everything you need for your workflow."

... :-))