solid edge st4 event: session 210 sheet metal modeling in solid edge a hands-on experience by doug...

© Siemens AG 2011. All Rights Reserved.

Sheet Metal Modeling: a hands-on experience


Siemens PLM Software

Solid Edge. Design better.

Doug Stainbrook

Background:

I am the team leader for the Solid Edge Field Support Team. This group is

the technical resource for supporting Solid Edge pre-sales activities around

the world. Before coming to the Solid Edge team, I spent about 10 years as a

designer for various industries. In 1999, I was hired as

a Solid Edge Application Engineer in Philadelphia, PA.

In 2000, I came to Huntsville, AL, to the home of

Solid Edge to work in the Field Support group.

Areas of Expertise:

Synchronous and ordered part

and sheet metal modeling

Personal interests:

Photography, art, high-speed engraving and

website design




Executive Summary

Today’s Topics:

Does your company manufacture sheet metal parts? Do you need a better

understanding of how to model those parts using synchronous sheet metal

design? If so, then this hands-on session is for you. We will walk through

step-by-step modeling of sheet metal parts in Solid Edge ST4. We will look

at specific workflows and techniques to improve your productivity designing

sheet metal parts in synchronous technology. Even if you have legacy files

that you want to be able to modify in a synchronous way, you will learn

when and how to move sheet metal features to the synchronous

environment for faster edits.

Key Takeaways:

Greater understanding of and confidence in synchronous Sheet Metal

modeling




Open ASM_01_00701.asm

In place activate into PSM_01_00333.psm

Hands-on 1




Create a rectangle by center on the x-y plane

Make it 190 mm x 200 mm

Angle 0.00°

Hands-on 1




Extrude the region down

Thickness (3.58 mm) is determined

by the setting in the material table.

Go to the material table and change

the gage to 14 gage

Hands-on 1




Select 3 edges and drag the small arrow to create 3 flanges simultaneously

Drag down to the keypoint at the end of the side bracket

Use Material Inside

option

Hands-on 1




Toggle Hide Previous Level from the View tab to hide

the background parts

Add Smart dimensions to the

inside and outside by simply

clicking the inside and

outside edges

Hands-on 1




Note that you can change either the inside dimension or the outside

dimension to control the width of the synchronous sheet metal part.

No extra calculation of material thickness is need to control either width.

Hands-on 1




Show the background parts and sketch a circle on the top of the cover

(about 130.00 mm diameter)

Create a dimple to make clearance for the

pulley shaft

Hands-on 1




Sketch a line on the side of the sheet metal cover above the belt

Use the line to create a jog

jog 30.00 mm

Hands-on 1




Use the steering wheel to rotate the side face

Rotate 35°

Hands-on 1




From the backside of the part, drag a

short flange about 20.00 mm

Hands-on 1




Relate the small flange to be coplanar to the back

flange of the cover

Hands-on 1




Select the edge

SHIFT+Click the primary axis and drag off of the edge 1.00 mm and click

to establish the side to offset

Hands-on 1




Select the primary axis and drag to the keypoint of the back flange to

establish a 1.00 mm gap

Hands-on 1




Drag flanges from both side flanges simultaneously to the keypoint at the end

of the side bracket

Hands-on 1




Use Coplanar relate on the thickness face to align

to the back flange

Hands-on 1




Create a Smart dimension for the flange and make

it 35.00 mm and Lock the dimension

Rotate the side face 16.00°

Disable Symmetry Live Rule (S)

Hands-on 1




Use Project to Sketch to create a .50 mm offset of the 2 mounting bolts

to create clearance holes

Use regions to drag the holes through the flanges

Hands-on 1




Create a Smart dimension to drive the height of the jog or to move the top

face of the part up or down

Pull top down to 35.00 mm

Push jog down to 45.00 mm

Hands-on 1




Add a coplanar relationship from the edge of the small flange to the jogged face

Rotate the jogged face 22.00° to remove interference with the pulley

Disable Coplanar Live Rule

Hands-on 1




Rotate the thickness face about 85.00°

Hands-on 1




Start a sketch with the line command

Put the cursor over the jogged face

Use "N" key to set the proper orientation of the cursor lines before clicking F3 to

lock the plane

Sketch a closed shape to use to cut away the sharp corner

Hands-on 1




Select the 2 regions and start to drag to cut away the corner

Toggle symmetry setting to cut symmetrically

Hands-on 1




Select the dimple and click the edit handle

Edit the profile

Hands-on 1




Delete the original circle

Use the Project to Sketch command to project the edges of the belt to use for the

dimple profile

Hands-on 1




Accept and point the arrow to the inside of the profile

Make it 5.00 mm deeper for more clearance with the pulley shaft

Hands-on 1




Use the text profile command from the

sketch tab to add text to the part

Make size 12.00 mm

"NOT A STEP"

Hands-on 1




Lock to the top face

Use "N" key to orient to the shown edge

click F3

Place the sketch

Hands-on 1




Use the sketch to define an Etch feature

Hands-on 1




From the Tools tab, Flatten the model

Select the top face and the left edge

Hands-on 1




You can use the options to change the display of the dimple.

Hands-on 1




Return to the designed 3D state by clicking the synchronous node

Close and return to the top level assembly

Hint: to see the etch, show

the curves for this part

DONE!

Close the model

Hands-on 1




Open ST2BP2.psm

Multiple flanges can be dragged off of the tab at the same time.

Select both end thickness faces and drag down about 50.00 mm

Hands-on 2




From a side view Fence select the bottom 2 thickness faces

Select the small axis and drag two more flanges 25.00 mm

Hands-on 2




Add a Smart dimension by selecting the edge shown

Notice how the dimension automatically attaches to the virtual vertices of

the bends, as this is the driving dimension for the design

Change the value to 125.00 mm

Hands-on 2




Add a Smart dimension to the inside faces of the part

With synchronous technology it does not matter how it was built; we can

add the driving design dimensions later, like controlling the inside

dimensions of the

sheet metal part.

Hands-on 2




Add a Smart dimension to the end flange and

lock the dimension value

Now when we rotate the sides, this flange

will remain its set length.

Select the side flange and move the

steering wheel to the upper edge

Initiate a rotate by selecting the

torus and begin to drag

Click “O” to disable

Orthogonal to base

if possible in Live Rules

Key in 20°

Hands-on 2




Show the sketch in the model by turning

on its display in PathFinder

Select the regions created by the

closed profile

Hands-on 2




Set the extent type to Finite

Begin to drag the cut into the part and

note how the region is cutting the model

in the default setting

Hands-on 2




Change the option in the QuickBar to a wrapped cut and watch as the part is

unbent and the cutout is created across the bend

Accept and the part is re-bent

Hands-on 2




Now we want to make the side face of the side flange vertical.

Select the face shown and select Horizontal/Vertical Relate from the

command ribbon

Select the face shown to be make it vertical

Hands-on 2




Now we want to add the small tab to the opposite side of the flange.

First we will create a Mirror Plane.

Create a coincident plane to the face shown

Use the steering wheel to move to the middle of the flange

Hands-on 2




Select the 4 thickness faces of the tab

Select Mirror from the Home Tab

Select the plane to mirror about

Hands-on 2




Select 2 side faces on the mirrored side and drag

Note that the mirrored faces behave associatively.

Hands-on 2




Next we are going to Mirror a flange.

Select Flange 6 from PathFinder

Select the Mirror command again

Use the thickness face of the main tab as the mirror plane to force the tab far

outside of the part

Notice how Solid Edge extends the tab to meet the flange

Hands-on 2




In this case we want to shorten the mirrored flange, so it is not desirable for

the two flanges to behave associatively.

RMB click on the last Mirror feature in PathFinder and select Break

Mirrored feature becomes an independent flange

Hands-on 2




Now you can change the length of the mirrored flange independently.

Hands-on 2




Now we will move the two outside flanges such

that they are coplanar with the middle flange.

Select the coplanar Face Relate command

Select bottom face of the outside flange with

the slot in it as the seed face and accept

Hands-on 2




Before selecting the target face, disable Symmetric about base (S), Coplanar

axis (A), and Thickness chain (H) options in Live Rules

Select the bottom of the center plane as the target to be coplanar with

Hands-on 2




Finally we will copy and paste a flange onto

the opposite side of the part.

Select Flanges 7 and 8 from PathFinder

Move the steering wheel to top face

Hands-on 2




Reorient as shown by selecting the orange bearing point on the secondary

axis and rotating it about the primary axis

Hands-on 2




Using SHIFT+click on the origin, move the steering wheel to the corner shown

to preserve its current orientation

Hands-on 2




Select Copy from the home Tab or click CTRL+C

The steering wheel orientation was important for the

paste operation to paste the flange back into the model and

precisely position it.

Click Paste from the home tab or click CTRL+V

On the opposite side of the

part, hover the mouse over

the thickness face

Hands-on 2




When the face highlights, click F3 to lock to the plane

The copied geometry will flip 180°.

Hands-on 2




Click to place the construction geometry

Select the Primary axis to move the geometry and align with the top edge of

the main tab by clicking a keypoint

Hands-on 2




Rotate the primary axis by clicking a bearing knob on the steering wheel

Move the geometry on the tab by clicking the axis and dragging it to about the

middle of the edge

Hands-on 2




While the construction geometry is still highlighted, RMB click and select

Attach

Hands-on 2




…and just because we CAN….. roll the model over and select the mirrored

flange face shown

Select Coplanar Face Relate command and make the pasted flange coplanar

with the other 3 flanges

Be sure to reset to the default Live Rules before accepting the target

Hands-on 2




DONE

Hands-on 2




Open 01-Housing.psm

Note that it is an Ordered Part

We want to stretch the part longer and wider.

Select the last feature and attempt to

Move to Synchronous

Hands-on 3




Note that it fails due to some unsupported features

This will require some reorder.

We want to maintain the Stagger Pattern.

Hands-on 3




The dimple feature must be ordered to the bottom.

There are 2 Mirror features that are related to the dimple.

Select the dimple and the 2 related mirror features and group them together

Rename: Dimples

Group Hole 12 and 13 together

Rename FanHoles

Hands-on 3




Reorder the FanHoles group to just

below Flange 4

Expand the FanHoles group and make

the following selection set from PathFinder

for Move to Synchronous (in blue)




This is now a synchronous sheet metal part

with the Jog, Hole Pattern, and dimples left in the

Ordered node.

Fence select the back of the part and drag

100.00 mm

Hands-on 3




Note that the dimples did not track with the change

Result of an Ordered mirror feature

Create an Ordered Parallel plane to the midpoint

of one of the side edges

Reorder the plane above the Dimples Group

Hands-on 3




Edit the Mirror 4 in the Dimples Group

Select the Plane step and redefine to the new plane

Accept the warning

Hands-on 3




Next we want the holes in the jogged flange to be symmetric from front to back.

Edit the profile for the Ordered Hole 2 feature

Unlock the 270 dimension

Add a locked 10 mm dimension from the left end

Hands-on 3




Now the Ordered features will track with another change.

Fence select the Pattern end again and drag another 100 mm

Note that the holes and dimples now update as desired

Hands-on 3




You may also fence select one side and make the housing wider.

Because the part was built symmetric to the base reference planes, the

mirrored features update correctly.

Hands-on 3




Transition to Synchronous

What are the 3 ways?

Add a sketch for an Etch feature

Etch it into the part

Transition back to Ordered

Hands-on 3




Flatten the model

Add manufacturing Tabs

DONE!

Hands-on 3




Conclusions

Solid Edge with synchronous technology makes designing and editing sheet

metal parts fast and easy with intuitive and powerful tools and workflows.

solid edge st4 event: session 210 sheet metal modeling in solid edge a hands-on experience by doug...

Technology

siemens plm software

experience siemens ag

mmsolid edge

optionsolid edge

edge shift

psmsolid edge

gagesolid edge

bracketsolid edge