Using Sheet Metal Wizard to Create Sheet Metal Components

In this task you will create three sheet metal components starting from a single solid. To accomplish this task, open the "Wizard.e3" file available in the Samples folder of your think3 installation and follow the steps given below.

  1. Invoke the Sheet Metal Wizard command and select the top face of the solid for the Remove Face selector.



  2. Under Rip Group 1, in the Rip by drop-down list, select 2 points. Now select the points between which the rip will be created, as shown below. For the ease in showing the selection, the image is being displayed in the Wireframe mode. You can rotate the model to make the selections.



  3. For the Face selector that is displayed below Rip by 2 points, select the face on which the rip will be created. For this task, select the bottom face.



  4. Now another set of Rip by drop-down list is available; select Profile in it. Select the profile along which the rip will be created, as shown below.



  5. For the Face selector that is displayed below Rip by Profile, select the face on which the rip will be created. For this task, select the bottom face.



  6. Now another set of Rip by drop-down list is available; the Edges option is selected in it by default. Select all the edges on which the rips will be created. For this task, select all the vertical edges.



    Note
    In total three sets of the Rip by drop-down lists are displayed. Each successive Rip by drop-down list is displayed only after the selection for the previous one is made and its list does not contain the option that has already been set in the other Rip by drop-down lists.

  7. Click the Show Preview () button to display the preview of the sheet metal components that are going to be formed.



    Note
    During the preview mode, the selectors are automatically disabled. In order to enable the selectors again, you have to turn off the preview mode by selecting the Hide Preview () button.

  8. In this task the selection of rip locations is such that three sheet metal components are formed. Each of the components can be assigned with its individual sheet metal properties. To facilitate this, the Resulting Components drop-down list is displayed. Select the component number from this list and then use the Local Properties options below it to specify the individual sheet metal parameters for that component. The Thickness mini-dialog box is displayed over the component that is currently selected. The current component is highlighted by a grid over it.



  9. Now apply the command to complete the command's application and create the resulting sheet metal components.

Note
In this task we did not specifically select any edges for creating bends on them. However, all the edges that remained unselected were automatically considered for bends because of the setting made for the Unrecognized edges option in the Sheet Metal category of Document Properties. By default this option is set to Add: To bend group. If it is set to Add: To rip group, then all the unselected edges will be automatically considered for creating rip and you only need to make the selection of edges to create bends on them.

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