Edit an Imported Sheet-Metal Model

Sheet-Metal Design

General

Prerequisites for making an imported part into an sheet metal part that can be flattened

  • The surface chain is tangential, i.e. there are no sharp corners between the bends of the part.
  • The part's thickness is constant.
  • The surfaces of the part can be flattened, i.e. the model does not have double-curved surfaces, such as spherical or torus surfaces.

Import a sheet-like part as a sheet metal part

  • The imported model may have been modeled with a different sheet thickness than the one from which it is eventually manufactured, or a part has sections of different thickness or a part is missing roundings.
  • See the instructions Import a Part as a Sheet Metal Part - Repair the Part.

Change the thickness of an imported sheet metal part

Figure 1: An example of this is a part that is not a sheet-metal part. The part cannot be flattened before the Tangential Offset function is complete.

Converting Bends into Bend Features

If the corners of the bends in the imported part are sharp, but the sheet is otherwise suitable as a sheet metal part (see above under prerequisites...), then you can proceed as follows.

  1. Convert the part into sheet metal part unless you already imported it as a sheet metal part.
  2. Add roundings to the corners of the sheet metal part with the function Sheet Metal Part | Tools Add Bend Radius.

Change a Feature

You can replace a hole or indentation in a sheet model with a Vertex library feature.

Editing a Base Feature

You can edit a base feature of an imported model using the following functions: