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Tabs on sheet metal
aram_raeymakers
Member Posts: 2 ✭
Hi everyone,
I am working on a sheet metal design for a steel construction and I am stuck on a specific workflow issue regarding self-fixturing tabs.
My Workflow:
- I start with a master sketch and create a solid Extrude.
- I use "Convert to Sheet Metal" to turn the solid into individual sheet metal parts.
The Problem:The conversion creates a small relief gap between the parts. I now want to create positioning tabs (tabs and slots) between these adjacent plates.
- The standard Sheet Metal "Tab" tool doesn't seem to support connecting separate parts across a gap.
- Custom Features (like Laser Joint) fail because the parts do not physically touch or intersect due to the relief gap created by the conversion.
My Constraints:I want to avoid "hacking" the geometry with Move Face or Direct Editing to bridge the gap manually, as I want to keep the model parametric and clean based on the master extrude.
Question:What is the proper workflow to generate tabs/slots between parts that have been created via "Convert to Sheet Metal"? Is there a setting in the Convert feature I am missing, or a standard method to bridge this gap for tab generation?
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/4f1fe5fcdd6a13e6ca934728/w/5442b6332d503b25cb6b46bd/e/c0aac806da9de0e1f2ed2a22
Thanks in advance!
Comments
I think there's a limitation on the tabs when multiple parts are created in the same sheet metal feature.
It works fine if you use two separate features:
Also, "move face" is not a "hack", it's an integral part of the workflow in Onshape sheet metal, and if you use "up to" (with or without offsets), it remains parametric and is actually a really good way to capture design intent.
There's some discussion about it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlOD7KCmkDA&t=1s
Commenting for later when I finally release the sheet metal tab and slot feature I'm in my half dozenth rework of. The newest iteration leverages a heavily modified version of the tab feature that allows for curved surfaces as an input and isn't limited to sketch geometry but it has issues with cases where there are joint attributes associated with the tab edges. Move face fixes the issues, but I'm trying to bake that into the tool to be able to handle those cases.
Derek Van Allen | Engineering Consultant | Meddler