I often work with sheet metal that needs to be rolled into a cylinder with a formed lip and run into the issue of not being able to Unfold the cylinder to add Cut-Extrude features to its flat pattern that would then be Folded and visible in its rolled state. See attached. Why can I Flatten these type of parts, but cannot choose a Fixed Face to Unfold?
Because you did the profile as a Sweep, SW doesn't recognize that. If you do the cylinder with the Base Flange/Tab command, you will be able
Here's the same cylinder re-done with the Base Flange/Tab command and two Swept Flanges to create the rolled lips. Now the Flatten feature is incorrect where it previously was correct when the cylinder was done as a Swept Flange. Though it does Unfold with the Base Flange, partially. It leaves the Swept Flanges in their rolled state. This still is not producing the desired result.
I'm on an older version so cannot open your part. But I can say that you should be using the sheet metal tools exclusively if you want to be able to fold/unfold/flatten. Swept flanges will cause problems. You can create flanges with the Base/Flange/Tab command, or the Edge Flange tools.
I stand corrected. When I heard swept, I thought of the normal sweep command.
Is it possible to unfold an L or C-shaped sheet metal sweep?
The above link has the answer. You can do this with just a Swept Flange. In the sketch that defines the Sweep path, you add a small straight line to the curve and that allows you to select a Fixed Face when you try to Unfold. Works perfect! Thanks Dennis Bacon. It appears that "Fixed Face" should be thought of as "Flat Face" when using the Unfold feature.
Is it possible to unfold an L or C-shaped sheet metal sweep?
The above link has the answer. You can do this with just a Swept Flange. In the sketch that defines the Sweep path, you add a small straight line to the curve and that allows you to select a Fixed Face when you try to Unfold. Works perfect! Thanks Dennis Bacon. It appears that "Fixed Face" should be thought of as "Flat Face" when using the Unfold feature.