Sheet Splitting

Sheet-Metal Design

The split line feature can be used to create sheet splitting for a sheet metal part.

For example, using sheet splitting, you can model things like a tank built from several sheet blanks as a single model. The sheet seams are displayed for positioning through holes.

The advantage of this method compared to creating actual welding grooves, for example by a cutout extrusion, is that the model can still be bent and flattened even after the faces have been divided, both during modeling and for the model drawing.

Figure 1: A tank model has been flattened and a sheet split has been sketched onto it. After the Split Line function the model is rebent.

Create sheet splitting during modeling when the model is flattened as follows:

  1. Add a new sketch to the face of the part.
  2. Draw a sketch, and select OK.
  3. Select Split Line as the operation.
  4. Select the surfaces that you want to split with the line in the Selected Elements 1 section. You can select all surfaces by selecting the context-sensitive function All in the list.
  5. Select OK.
  6. Rebend the model back into a 3D model.