·         Building Sheet Metal Parts

 

·         Create a sheet metal style

·         Create a sheet metal face

·         Add flanges

·         Cut material from a face

·         Create offset faces

·         Add bends and corners

·         Create holes

·         Generate flat patterns

 

·         File > New

·         Double-click template Sheet Metal (mm).ipt

·         File opens in Sketch environment (page 3)

 

·         Adjusting Grid Settings

·         Tools > Document Settings > Sketch Tab

 

·         x/y Snap spacing: 2.5 mm

·         Grid display 1 snaps per minor

·         Major every 10 minor lines (page 4)

 

·         Adjusting Grid Display

·         Tools > Applications Options > Sketch Tab

 

·         Select

·         Grid Lines

·         Minor Grid Lines

·         Axes

·         Snap to Grid

·         Click OK (page 5)

 

·         Getting Ready

·         Zoom out till minor lines disappear

 

·         Recommended: Create production work using geometry constrained by dimensions or geometric constraints. (page 6)

·         Ready to create first sketch

 

 

·         We will

·         Create a Sheet Metal Part

·         Create a base sketch

·         Define a basic sheet metal style

·         Create a sheet metal face from the sketch

·         Add a flange to the first face

·         Cut material from a face (page 7)

 

·         Add Sheet Metal Features

·         Adding more faces and flanges

·         Adding corners and bends

·         Creating a flat pattern

·         Adding holes to the part on your own, using the skills you have learned in previous tutorials (page 8)

 

·         Sketch First Face

·         Click Two-point Rectangle tool

·         Draw 250 x 200 mm rectangle

·         Watch co-ordinates at bottom right of screen

·         We should constrain with dimensions and center at origin (page 9)

 

·         Using Sheet Metal Tools

·         In base sketch include principal face or open profile for shape of contour flange

·         Styles control sheet metal parts

·         Type and thickness

·         Bend radii

·         Bend relief

·         Corner options

·         Other setting unique to parts formed from flat sheets

·         We will modify material and thickness next (page 10)

 

·         Create a Sheet Metal Style

·         Right-click panel and select Sheet Metal Features panel

·         Click Sheet Metals Styles

·         Click New in Sheet Metal Styles dialog box. The default style is copied to new style and inherits all its parameters

·         Rename Copy of Default to Brass, Soft Yellow

·         Next we change material and thickness before saving new sheet metal style (page 11)

 

·         Save Sheet Metal Style

·         Select Brass, Soft Yellow from Materials list and change thickness to 2.5 mm

·         Click Save button

·         Make new style active by selecting it in Active Style drop down list

·         Done (page 12)

 

·         Create First Face

·         Click Face tool and accept defaults

·         Click OK

·         Rotate view to shorter side vertical (page 13)

 

·         Add Flange

·         Click Flange tool

·         Select left inside edge of part

·         Use 50 mm distance

·         Click OK

·         Save to s_metal.ipt (page 15)

 

·         Sketch a Cut Face

·         Click Sketch tool

·         Click front face

·         Click Two Point Rectangle Tool

·         Draw rectangle to partially overlap lower right corner

·         Select collinear constraint and make verical and horizontal edges of rectangle to edges of face

·         Do each with two picks each

·         First on rectangle verical line

·         Second on vertical edge of part

·         Similarly for horizontal line on rectangle to be collinear with lower horizontal edge of part

·         Esc to end constraint command (page 16)

 

·         Dimension Sketch and Create Cut

·         Horizontal: 175 mm

·         Vertical: 100

·         Click Cut Tool

·         Select inside rectangle

·         Click OK (page 17)

 

·         Create Offset Work Plane

·         Click Offset Work Plane tool

·         Pause over front face and drag inward

·         Enter 50 mm in Offset dialog

·         Click Check Mark to place (page 18)

 

·         Create Sketch Plane for Offset face

·         Click Sketch tool and select an edge on work plane

·         Look At tool to view planar sketch (page 19)

 

·         Create a Sketch

·         Draw approximate rectangle inside lower right corner of plane

·         Click Collinear Constraint tool

·         Align rectangle vertical and horizontal edges with that of part face (page 20)

·         Right-click, select Done for collinear command

·         Right-click and select Finish Sketch

 

·         See: Using Constraints tutorial (end of page 21)

 

·         Create Offset Face

·         Go to previous view

·         Click Face tool

·         Click OK (page 22)

·         Next create another offset face

 

·         Create another work plane

·         Click Work Plane tool

·         Click existing work plane

·         Drag forward

·         Enter 25 mm in Offset dialog

·         Click Check Mark or press Enter key (page 23)

·         Sketch tool > planar view with Look At tool

·         Draw second rectangle and collinear lower edge to lower horizontal edge of part

·         Right-click and Done for collinear command (page 24)

 

·         Create Offset Face with Face Tool as before (page 25)

·         Add Flange

·         Click Flange tool

·         Use the 50 mm Distance (page 26)

 

·         Create New Flange

·         Click OK

·         Save

·         Faces and flanges are defined (page 27)

 

·         Add Sheet Metal Bends

·         First a right angle bend

·         Click Bend tool

·         Select two edges

·         Radius: 5 mm

·         Click OK to create bend (page 28)

 

·         Create Second Bend

·         Click Bend tool

·         Click two edges (upper of first rectangle face and lower of cut face)

·         Radius: 10 mm

·         Click OK to create bend (page 29)

 

·         Chamber two edges

·         Click Corner Chamfer tool

·         Select the tiny edges of first rectangle face

·         Click OK

·         Inventor ignores inconsistent edges (page 30)

 

·         Add Two Corner Rounds

·         Click Corner Round tool

·         Click two corner edges of second rectangle face we created on Work Plane2

·         Click in Radius field to view arrow

·         Click arrow and Measure in context menu

·         Measure the distance between bend selections

·         Enter divided by 2 (/2) in Radius field

·         Click OK to round corners (page 31)

 

·         Create Holes as indicated (omitted) (page 32)

 

·         Create Sheet Metal Flat Pattern

·         Click the main large inner face

·         Click Flat Pattern tool

·         Flat pattern appears and Flat Pattern Edit Features panel is displayed

·         Return to folded model by double-clicking Folded Model node in browser

 

·         Summary

·         Create sheet metal style

·         Create sheet metal face

·         Add flanges

·         Cut material from face

·         Create offset faces

·         Add bends and corners

·         Generate flat patterns

·          

 

Resume

Inventor Skills

Creating Adaptive Parts in an Assembly

Using Frame Generator

Creating iFeatures

Using Content Center

Creating a Part

Building Sheet Metal Parts

Creating Assemblies

Creating a Bolted Connection