Help With Flatten Sheetmetal

labern

I Know this isn't 100% Onshape related but I have drawn a thin extrude item in Onshape and tried to flatten it in Solidworks.
I have no experience with sheet metal in Solidworks and its just coming up with an error and wont flatten unless I suppress 2 of the curves
Is anyone able to look at my model and possibly point me in the correct direction?
Its just one part in my workspace and don't want to make the whole workspace public yet but if anyone would like to help out I can share the file to you.

brucebartlett

I'm dropping them in my Onshape file, can't be bothered with the Onshape sketch of bend details so just exported from SW's. I have fixed the problem with the end and set the k factor to .47. You can download/copy tabs from here:  https://cad.onshape.com/documents/bf58ad03c2e348bd832182db/w/667d45b4a0ef418eaa0ae436/e/3420ec88a93c4ba3a53b6be4

brucebartlett

Try selecting the inside face. Tends to flatten better.

If you post a link to your Onshape or a picture part can give more help

andrew_troup

Solidworks can only flatten parts if they are very strictly constant in thickness, bends are dead straight, and a few other considerations such as inter-bend clearance which are (IIRC) listed in Solidworks Help.

labern

That was a fast response  I was just in the process of adding a picture.

andrew_troup

I think it's probably a no-no to have a cut arc intersecting the zone of a bend, (as at far left and right) for one thing. 

You could perhaps use "Copy workspace.." from the Document (hamburger) menu at top left to create a new document, delete anything in the model you want to keep under your hat, then share what's left.

labern

Yeah I understand that its not good having a cut arc intersecting the bend. Im actually modifying an existing design that was done that way and there is limited space. Solidworks seemed to have handled it fine. 
thanks for the tip, I just figgered out how to copy it and can be found here: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/63f17fc0fd0543ef8cc77d85/w/838a24c31b7f46568f3bcc88

andrew_troup

@labern

I can imagine Solidworks might have different levels of what sheetmetal it can flatten, depending on whether it was modelled in Solidworks as a sheetmetal part, vs imported from another package.

 Which two bends have you had to suppress to get it to flatten?

brucebartlett

Try https://cad.onshape.com/documents/bf58ad03c2e348bd832182db/w/667d45b4a0ef418eaa0ae436/e/3420ec88a93c4ba3a53b6be4

I had trouble with double bend across the 2 bits with the 2 holes. I cut one side of each of the double bends out and added back in after flattening, not ideal but gets a result.

labern

brucebartlett said:

Try https://cad.onshape.com/documents/bf58ad03c2e348bd832182db/w/667d45b4a0ef418eaa0ae436/e/3420ec88a93c4ba3a53b6be4

I had trouble with double bend across the 2 bits with the 2 holes

Yes the double bend was the issue. 
Oh how did you get it to flatten? You need to also select the large radius on the left side to flatten as its missing in your file. 

labern

I'm also needing to export it as a DXF with fold reference lines. I guess that cant be imported into onshape?

brucebartlett

@labern  I put a SW file in Onshape you can download and have look. Sorry about the errors on the cuts, I had to drag them down the tree as they would not work before the the sheet metal feature and I did not redo the constraints.

brucebartlett

We need an Onshape flatten tool I do not want to revert back to an alternate app, I know it will come I am just impatient. I think it would be useful for more than just sheetmetal, vote for my request for a simple tool to get us started with sheetmetal parts. https://onshape.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/205069037-Flatten-Part-Good-Start-for-Sheet-Metal

brucebartlett

labern said:

I'm also needing to export it as a DXF with fold reference lines. I guess that cant be imported into onshape?

Dxf not in yet but hopefully in the next release or 2.

What do you want to achieve with this part on Onshape if you have Solidworks? 

You could cut some ref notch's in to build a sketch from after import to Onshape then re export the sketch as a .dxf but why not do it straight from SW?

labern

brucebartlett said:

labern said:

I'm also needing to export it as a DXF with fold reference lines. I guess that cant be imported into onshape?

Dxf in not yet but hopefully in the next release or 2.

What do you want to achieve with this part on Onshape if you have Solidworks? 

You could cut some ref notch's in to build a sketch from after import to Onshape then re export the sketch as a .dxf but why not do it straight from SW?

I only have access to SW at work during after hours and use someone else's computer. I'm not to familiar with it as its been a while and how the user set it up is quite different so would be a slow process.
It also looked easy to import and flatten in solidworks till i ran into this problem. 
I just need to flatten it and turn it to DXF to send to the local cut and fold shop.

brucebartlett

what k factor do you want to use?

labern

.47 thanks

brucebartlett

I'm dropping them in my Onshape file, can't be bothered with the Onshape sketch of bend details so just exported from SW's. I have fixed the problem with the end and set the k factor to .47. You can download/copy tabs from here:  https://cad.onshape.com/documents/bf58ad03c2e348bd832182db/w/667d45b4a0ef418eaa0ae436/e/3420ec88a93c4ba3a53b6be4

labern

thank you so much. that is awesome. I really appreciate your help

brucebartlett

Upon review  i found that cent 5.5 hole has lost a bit of detail across the fold. I fixed on the Onshape flat pattern but the dxf with the fold lines will still be wrong. Sorry hopefully there is no other errors. 

labern

ok. that's fine. thanks for the update