Hi
I'm trying to optimize our sheetmetal operations, especially DXF-file generation from Inventor. We use iFlatpattern export for automatic creation of flatpattern and DXF-files. This work fine, DXF’s are generated and placed where our in house plasma cutter can pick it up.
My task is to automate the process of closing holes which we don’t want to cut, and instead place a punch tool in the center. The punch tool then results in a marking that is similar to a center punch for drilling.
At the moment the manual process looks like this:
- Create your sheetmetal part with all hoes and features.
- Save (a flat pattern is created by iFlatpattern)
- In the flat pattern environment, create a sketch on the plate.
- Put a center mark in each hole you want to drill rather than cut.
- Make the sketch shared.
- Use the extrude command to fill the holes you want to drill, use parameter thickness for distance.
- Place the center mark punch tool using the center marks in the shared sketch.
When the part is saved iFlatpattern creates a DXF-file with all contours on layer 0 for cut and all sketch or punch conjures on layer 2 for mark.
Can anybody point me in a direction? Thanks!
Rgds Claus
