Hello everyone,

The picture in the attachment will explain my question.

(I have a Solidworks standard license)

I want to make complex figures (extrude cut) in standard extrusion profiles (steel or stainless steel) all around the tube.

With round tubes it's quite easy, then you can use the 'wrap' function and design the shapes in a 2D sketch, us Wrap function and then apply Deboss.

But with box sections (square tube, rectangular tube) it's more difficult.

This is how far I came:

1) Place a standard profiel (in this example ISO 80x80x5 mm)

2) Make a small gap over the full length (1mm)

3) Convert it to sheet metal + Unfold

4)  Sketch the (complex) shapes and do Extrude Cut

5) Refold

6) Fill the 1mm gap with a simple extrusion and make sure the 'Merge result' is on

Then I save the model as a STEP file, and this is the format the Tube Laser machine can recognize. (If I don't use the 'merge result' function, the program will recognize it as a bend piece of sheet metal instead of a tube). (Here an example of a Laser Tube cutting machine: Laser tube cutting machines | BLM GROUP - YouTube   )

BUT... the problem is step 6. Fill the gap with a 1mm extrusion can only be done when ever I can make a full length (vertically) extrusion. But I want to go further in my designs so that there is no place for a vertical extrusion over the full length (see example picture at the end). How can I do this? I have no idea

And, I think this method is a little complex. So I hope you can give me tips or help me to show how I can design this in a different way.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Lennart