About Sheet Metal Parts

Sheet Metal Parts are the parts which are

having thin and constant thickness wall. Sheet metal
part can be created in Sheet Metal mode or in
Assembly mode as a sheet metal component, or it
can be a regular part that has a constant thickness
that is converted to a sheet metal part.
A sheet metal part appears with green and
white surfaces. This helps in visualizing the part and
geometry selection Green represents the driving as
white surfaces are created by offsetting the material
thickness from the green.
 Approach About Design
Design the cabinet and supporting structures
around the internal components.
Design the part in the as designed condition,
i.e., not as a flat pattern, unless you know all flat
pattern details and dimensions. (Problems can
arise when you modify the part when designed as
a flat pattern.)
Add as many bends to the part as possible
before adding other features.Creating cuts at an
angle or through bend areas might require larger
dimensions for proper clearance.
 BENDING METHODS

A rectangular piece of metal is subjected during the bending process

to a combined action of tensile and compressive stresses. The figure (a)
shows a sheet blank and the figure (b) shows a bent part made from this
blank. It can be easily seen on the diagram that originally the line ab on top
of the blank equals in length to the line ab in the middle and to the line
ab at the bottom. Therefore,
ab = ab = ab
In the ready part, the arc ab is smaller than the arc ab, while ab is
smaller than ab, and hence
 ab <  ab <  ab
This clearly shows that the metal is stretched at the outside of
the bend and compressed, or shortened, on the internal side.
Only the internal layer, called the neutral plane, undergoes no
changes at all. The resultant deformation may be either
permanent or recoverable.
Both recoverable and permanent deformation should
be always taken into account during the bending process.
When the bending stress does not exceed the elastic limit case,
after the stress is removed, the blank will assume its original
shape. In order to bend a work the bending stress should be
always higher than the elastic limit to prevent the work from
recovering its original shape.
In the process of bending sheet blanks permanent and
recoverable deformations always occur together and for this
reason a spring-back effect can be observed in workpieces
bent to a certain angle after the stress has been removed.
In other words, the bending angle increases somewhat and the work tends to
straighten out. The angle to which the work is straightened is known as the
springback.. the amount of the springback depends on the grade and thickness
of the material and the radius in the corner of the bend.
The deformation diagram of simple bending illustrated in the figure (c) below
shows that the acting stresses of unlike sign produce a considerable springback
effect. Parts can be bent to the required profile within the specified tolerances
only on condition that the springback aftereffect is eliminated in the process of
fabrication.
The use of various tools designed with an allowance for springback, i.e.,
smaller radii and angles of bend, is rather difficult and does not produce the
required accuracy, since it is hardly possible to determine accurately the
springback in advance. For this reason, the tools utilized for bending have to
be adjusted finally using the results of the previous experience to find the
dimensions required for a precise fabrication of the part.
Accurate bends are manufactured by gripping and stretching with an
additional tensile force as shown in figure (d), when the metal is only stretched
over the entire section of the work.
In this case, the springback decreases drastically; however, this
process requires a far more complicated equipment.
Blank dimensions
The developed length of a blank is determined by calculating the length
of straight sections, the amount of length reduction within the arc or the length
along the neutral plane. The blank length P is determined for work with a 90
bend from the formula
P = n1 + n2 – A
where n1 and n2 = the length of straight sections of the work, mm
A = value of blank reduction within the arc, mm.

The value of blank reduction is determined depending on the bending radius

and the work thickness
A = R/2 + m
where R = bending radius, mm
m = work thickness, mm
Example. Determine length P of a blank as shown in figure below with the
following profile dimensions: n1 = 15 mm, n2 = 15 mm, R = 2.5 mm,
m = 0.5 mm.

P = n1 + n2 – A = 15 + 15 – ( 2.5/2 + 0.5) = 28.25 mm

The length of blanks to be bent at an angle smaller or larger than 90 can be
found from the formula

P = n 1 + n2 + B
where n1 and n2 = length of straight sections of the blank, mm
B = length of the neutral axis or plane within the arc, mm.

The length of the neutral plane within the limits of curvature is

determined depending on the blank thickness, the bending radius and angle of
bend
B = 0.0175 ( R + m/2 ) 
where R = bending radius, mm
m = blank thickness, mm
 = bending angle, degrees.
Example. Determine the length of a blank as
shown in figure below with the following profile
dimensions: n1 = 20 mm, n2 = 40 mm, R = 5 mm,
m = 6 mm,  = 30 .

P = 20 + 40 + 0.0175 ( 5 + 6/2 ) * 30 = 64.2 mm

Example. Determine the length of a blank as shown in
figure below with the following profile dimensions: n1 =
20 mm, n2 = 40 mm, R = 10 mm,
m = 3 mm,  = 137 .

P = 20 + 40 + 0.0175 ( 10 + 3/2 ) * 137 = 88 mm

 Profile dimensions can be found in special tables and alignment charts.
Calculating the length of Developments

m
R 0.3 0.5 0.8 1 1.2 1.5 1.6 1.8 2 2.5 2.8 3
K
1 0.02 0.022 0.024 0.026 0.028
2 0.038 0.039 0.042 0.044 0.045 0.048 0.049 0.051 0.052 0.057 0.059
3 0.055 0.057 0.059 0.061 0.063 0.065 0.066 0.068 0.07 0.074 0.077 0.079
4 0.072 0.074 0.077 0.079 0.08 0.083 0.084 0.086 0.087 0.092 0.094 0.096
5 0.09 0.092 0.094 0.096 0.098 0.1 0.101 0.103 0.105 0.109 0.112 0.113
6 0.107 0.109 0.112 0.113 0.115 0.118 0.119 0.12 0.122 0.127 0.128 0.131
7 0.125 0.127 0.129 0.131 0.133 0.135 0.136 0.138 0.14 0.144 0.147 0.148
8 0.142 0.144 0.147 0.148 0.15 0.153 0.154 0.155 0.157 0.161 0.164 0.166
9 0.16 0.161 0.164 0.166 0.168 0.17 0.171 0.173 0.175 0.179 0.182 0.183
10 0.177 0.179 0.182 0.183 0.185 0.188 0.188 0.19 0.192 0.196 0.199 0.201
Table shown is used to find the length of blanks made of material from 0.3 to 10
mm thick and bent to a radius of 1 to 30 mm. In this case the work length can
be found from the formula
P = l1 + l2 + B
where l1, l2 = lengths of straight sections
B = length of the neutral plane within the arc.
The length of the neutral plane within the arc can be determined from the
formula
B = 0.0175 ( R + m/2) 
B=K
The values of K, or bend allowances, are indicated in the Table ( m =
thickness of the material, R = bending radius ).
The value of K found in Table is multiplied by the bending angle  and
the product obtained is added to the straight sections of the part.
Example. Determine the length of a work with the following
profile dimensions: n1 = 20 mm, n2 = 40 mm,  = 137, R = 10
mm, m = 3 mm.
Find in the horizontal column of Table the thickness of the
material ( m = 3 mm ) and in the vertical column R – the bending
radius ( R 10 mm ). The point of intersection will give us the value
of allowance K (0.201).
The length of the neutral plane is
B = K  = 0.201 * 137 = 27.5 mm

Summing up the numerical values of n1, n2 and B we find

the developed length of the work

P = n1 + n2 + B = 20 + 40 + 27.5 = 87.5 mm
 About Sheet Metal Parameters

we should set up certain parameters and conditions

prior to adding features to the sheet metal part. These includes:
•Determining the method to calculate the developed length of
flat sheet metal required to make a bend of a specific
radius and angle.
•Generating a table to document the order and dimensions of
bend sequences.
•Setting the default surface or edge that remains fixed when
you bend or
bend back the part.
•Defining the default radius used when you create a bend or
add walls.
•Creating, displaying and updating flat state instances of a
current part.
 About the Y-Factor and K-
Factor
The formula according to which developed
length is calculated is:
L = ( 0.5 * Pi / R + Y-Factor * T ) Angle / 90
The Y-Factor = ( Pi / 2 ) * K-Factor.
The K-Factor is a physical value defining the ratio
of distance from the inner side of the bend to the
neutral layer and sheet metal thickness.
The K-Factor is a physical value defined as:
K=d/T