I had the same question but my delema is when I do a flange the dimetion for the cutouts dont measure from the outside bend of the part. Or am I doing something wrong ?
New to Solodworks.
Jr.
Jerry, you have two options when you create a basic edge flange, just the flange length or the overall. See attached.
Steve
That worked great once I changed position.
Thanks Steve.
Jr
A Sketch Bend changes the shape without adding material.
An Edge Flange changes the shape by adding material.
2242 wrote:
A Sketch Bend changes the shape without adding material.
An Edge Flange changes the shape by adding material.
Kevin, answer the question correctly, Edge Flanges create the size of the blank required to account for deformation of the material during the forming process (assuming you define the correct parameters of Bending Radius, K-Factor, etc.), Sketch Bend, just form the shape but do not consider any changes on on the dimensions of the blank. When to use one or another... well if you manually calculate the correct dimensions of the blank (flat part), or if you start with a flat pattern, you use Sketch Bends, if you know the bending parameters and what SW to calculate the dimensions of the flat pattern (blank) you use Edge Flanges.
Also on Edge Flanges, you can especify a flange dimension "up to a vertex", or you can edit the sketch and enter as many relations you need, etc. so the part will be related to other entities, etc.
...What is the difference in the Sketch Bend Feature and the Edge Flange feature?..
I pretty much ditto what others have already posted. My emphasis is always on design intent.
The attached sheet metal part uses bends sketched in the base flange, an edge flange and a sketched bend.
You might gain a little on rebuild time by putting the bends in the base sketch. However, that sketch could get very cluttered; adding future details like closed corners can become problematic.
Using the edge flange tool confers several advantages - i.e. inserting several identical flanges simultaneously, editing the sketch, changing the angle, using a radius other than default, etc.
Sketched bends (unfortunately) don't have the same functionality as jogs (I like the jog's option of "Fix projected length"). Sketched bends are nonetheless useful (IMHO) for creating bends that are "internal" to the part - note the little tab on the example.
If you study the example closely, you'll note that the material, radius, and bend deduction are very contrived. I used round numbers to make it easier to edit the sketched bend feature to discover how the radius, material thickness, and bend deduction (or whatever flattening tecnique) impact the final flat layout.
Steve