Greetings:
Is there a way to project a curved sketch onto a sheet metal cone so that the sketch will "deform" with the cone when it is flattend? I found a way to do this on a cylindrical piece of sheetmetal, but it doesn't look like that method will work on a cone. The cone is a lofted bend feature. Thanks.
Adam,
See if this post will help. https://forum.solidworks.com/thread/50604 Specifically Lon Eding's contribution on Mar 20, 2012.
If that is not the solution can you post some screen shots of what you are trying to do?
Cheers,
Anna
Here are two pictures of what I'm trying to do. I created a lofted sheetmetal part for the cone. The cone is split into 4 pieces for manufacturing purposes. There is another part that touches the inside face of the cone. I want to find a way to inscribe the curve that is created on the inside face of the cone where it intersects with the other part. So far, every method I've tried will not produce a flat pattern on the cone.
Adam
Create 2 "surfaces" with an offset of 0.00mm. Then open a 3D sketch and go to "Tools, Sketch Tools, Intersection Curve". Pick the 2 offset surfaces you created earlier and you should now get a curve where the 2 sufaces meet.
That gives me a curve, but the sketch is in the assembly and not on the part itself. I'm trying to find a way to mark that curve on the sheet metal cone part such that the curve will not only show up but also "deform" when the cone is flattened. Basically I'm trying to make a flat pattern template that will show where the other part is supposed to line up with the cone.
Just Extrude Cut the edge of your part through the cone. This will give you geometry that will carry over into the flat pattern. Then this geometry can be edited to "etch" instead of "cut" when the part is programmed.
Thanks. I used this method successfully on another part. On this part, the cone gets split into separate pieces and doesn't unfold. I edited the curves so that the cuts end before they completely separate the part. I'll be able to edit the flat to compensate for that, but this will work.
Adam,
The method I suggested bellow could be applied to the parts that are being unfold. I thought this is the main requirement you are looking for.
Thanks for the suggestion. I managed to get my part to unfold using the extrude technique, but I will save your example for future reference. Lofted sheetmetal parts and cones are usually the biggest headache I get with SolidWorks so the more techniques I have on hand the better.
Hi Adam,
Check the attached part.
When you change the surface body profile, then do a manual supress/ unsuppress of both flat pattens, and the intersection curve will update accordingly.
Just Extrude Cut the edge of your part through the cone. This will give you geometry that will carry over into the flat pattern. Then this geometry can be edited to "etch" instead of "cut" when the part is programmed.