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Help finish a box with lid

bill_danielsbill_daniels Member Posts: 277 ✭✭✭
I've got this far:
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/45640b3e1ac34b525d8f3cdf/w/fcb0ccf2d724598b2dbb2509/e/c085f42b24c4d08bafbc20b1  (Think of the cheap sheet metal tool boxes one can buy from Harbor Freight.)  As with those, the lid will have a simple piano hinge.  (Is there a piano hinge feature?)

Obviously, this is not a very robust box.  It needs some treatment of the corners such as an internal flange for riveting.  There needs to be something where the lid and box meet. Typically, boxes like these have a short joggle so the lid slips over the box and a bead on the edges so one's fingers don't get cut.  I've struggled to do these things but no luck so far.
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Answers

  • john_mcclaryjohn_mcclary Member, Developers Posts: 3,890 PRO
    edited August 2017
    Hell, looking good to me.

    Unfortunately you cannot add a boss-extrude (extrude-add) to a sheet-metal part.

    so the snap on feature will be a challenge. You will need to include the profile of the sheet metal clip in the front (I assume that's what you mean by joggle) in the main sheet metal feature of the lid. Which means rolling back and manually sketching the whole width profile of the lid. Then cut away the front until only that small 1inch clip remains.

    Kind of a work around. but OnShape really needs to allow "boolean add" to sheet-metal. It can be a real pain in the @$* when you have to go all the way back to square 1 because you forgot one "minor" yet "critical" feature...

    Minor: "Bah it's just a clip.. not worried about that part yet.."
    Critical: "Crap this won't work without it..."

    The bump that the clip engages would be a stamped emboss. So you can "finish" the sheet metal part and add that in after. Because the the flat pattern should not need to show the bump.
  • bill_danielsbill_daniels Member Posts: 277 ✭✭✭
    Joggle: A special-case flange where the sheet is first bent 45 degrees and then back 45 degrees so the flange (joggle) is parallel to the original sheet but displaced by one sheet thickness.  Joggles are commonly used in aircraft construction so lap-joints leave a smooth, continuous skin surface.  In the case of the box, the lid closes over the bottom joggle so the exterior surfaces are in one plane.  I was able to create a passable joggle after much fiddling with the flange feature. 

    Bead: Essentially a flange with a 180 degree bend angle and almost a zero bend radius.  The object is to leave a large,smooth edge-radius where fingers will touch the metal edge.  Beads also strengthen sheet metal edges.  OS, apparently, will not allow a 180 degree flange bend angle nor a zero bend radius but I found I could get close at 177 degrees and .02mm radius.
  • john_mcclaryjohn_mcclary Member, Developers Posts: 3,890 PRO
    Ah, got it :)

    Sorry I've only known them as jogs and hems :) Now that you defined them I can connect those dots in my head :)

    This is the closest I think you can get with "flattenable" sheet-metal in OnShape

    As you have probably come across as well in your trials. The smallest bead you can get is not a true zero thickness.
    The smallest I was able to get with this 12ga. test was a gap around .07 to .08 inches, even with a .001" bend radius



    Its really interesting to see how it will bug out and fold over it's self if you hit it's sweet spot :)



    By the way, these were all made using sheet-metal extrude, rather than adding flanges



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