Sheet Metal
Flat patterns for parts bent on a press brake: blanks with their bend lines, holes and slots, and reliefs where bends meet. A drawing whose industry is Sheet metal offers these tools in the toolbar and in Edit › Tool. A sheet-metal drawing made with File › New and a sheet-metal material (see Materials) has the variables T (thickness), K (K-factor) and R (inside bend radius) the tools start from, so the bends' allowances follow the material.
Tools
| Tool | Does | |
|---|---|---|
| Flat Pattern | The flat blank of a bent part from its flanges' sizes, with its bend lines | |
| Bend Line | A bend line with a note of its angle and bend allowance or deduction, UP or DOWN | |
| Corner Relief | A round, square or tear-drop relief where two bends meet | |
| Hole Pattern | Holes on a bolt circle (PCD), in a row or in a grid, measured from an edge | |
| Slot | A slotted hole: between two points, or round a centre at a length and angle | |
| Louver | A row of louvers or embosses (ribs, dimples): lances and forming outlines, formed in 3D and STEP | |
| Seam and Hem | A seam's or hem's allowance on an edge, its corners notched | |
| Rectangle to Round | A rectangle-to-round transition developed flat, with its bends | |
| Elbow Gores | The gores of a segmented round elbow, laid out flat | |
| Gusset Plate | A gusset or stiffener in a corner, sniped, its toes cut square | |
| Part Mark | Numbered part marks on the Etch layer |
The production tools (Registration Mark, Drill Hole) are offered for every industry.
Outlines go on the Cut layer, bend lines on the Crease layer (dashed), and notes on the Dimension layer. Bend allowances and deductions are worked out with BENDALLOWANCE and BENDDEDUCTION. To etch a part number on a part, use the Part Mark tool: it numbers the marks and puts them on the Etch layer, which the laser or punch marks rather than cuts. Louvers' forming outlines go on the Form layer; a hem's allowance is added with the Seam and Hem tool.
Bend table and press-brake output
File › Reports… › Bend table lists each bend of the flat blank in a suggested bending order (the bends nearest the edges first, the shorter flange first, then inwards): which way it goes, its angle and inside radius, its bend allowance and deduction, and the flange either side, to the virtual sharp (an outside size, as the Flat Pattern tool takes them), with the flat it is made from. A bend line on the Crease layer bends up, on the Reverse crease layer down; a Bend Line note gives its way, angle and radius, and a line without one is taken as 90° (the report's option). R, K and T are the drawing's; a bend of its own radius takes its material's K-factor table's K-factor at its R / T.
File › Export › Export… writes the blank as a DXF with bend data for press brakes' offline programming (Inventor's layer names, each bend's data as a note and as XDATA), and the part folded up as a STEP solid for mechanical CAD: an exact solid, its bends cylinders round their true radii.
A 3D page folds the blank up as the press brake bends it, in the bend table's order, each bend round its radius and the sheet its thickness, and says where flanges run into each other while bending or once folded, and bends it on a simulated press brake with real punches and dies, saying where a flange hits the tooling (see Press-Brake Simulation). Louvers and embosses are formed, and hems folded back. See Sheet metal and living hinges in 3D.
Designs in the library
File › Run Parametric… has a Sheet metal folder (see Run Parametric):
| Design | What it is |
|---|---|
| Angle bracket | One 90° bend, with fixing holes in each leg |
| U channel | Two bends the same way, with fixing holes along the base |
| Z bracket | Two bends in opposite directions (a joggle) |
| Hat section rail | A raised top, two webs and a flange out at each side |
| Hemmed edge panel | A panel with its edges folded right back (180°) |
| Enclosure tray | An open box bent up from one blank, its corners relieved |
| Open box with corner tabs | An open box with a tab at each end of its long sides |
| Equipment chassis with return flanges | A pan with a return flange on each side |
| Electrical junction box | A box bent up from one blank, with fixing lugs |
| Cable tray section | A perforated cable tray bent from one strip |
| Shelf bracket with gusset flanges | A bracket stiffened by a tapered flange along each side |
| Corner gusset | A triangular stiffener plate |
| Mounting plate with slotted holes | A plate with a slotted hole near each corner |
| Vent panel with slots | A field of round-ended slots, straight or staggered |
Machine profiles
Make It (File › Export › Make It, Ctrl+Shift+M, or the Make It button at the top of the window) writes the flat blank with its bends (Press brake flat blank (DXF with bends)) and the Bend table as CSV in one click, beside the drawing, after checking the design: see Make It.
File › Export › Export… lists this trade's formats first. File › Send Using Machine Profile sends the drawing to a machine in one click, with the format, options, layer names and pens it needs; those that come with the app for this trade: Waterjet (DXF, cut and etch), Plasma nesting software (DXF), Plasma table (G-code, arc lead-ins), Press brake flat blank (DXF with bends). See Export by Industry and Machine Profiles.
See also: Industries and Tool Sets, Tools.