Cuts on Sheet Metal Cylinder

I am trying to add straight cuts down the sides of a rolled cylinder. The cuts go straight down the length of the cylinder and do not go through the material. The outside would be similar to full length splines on a shaft, but much shallower. The cuts are only about .002 into the sheet metal.

I've tried adding the cuts in both the formed and flattened states and neither works. The rest of the project is done in SW 2005, but I've tried this using SW 2006 as well with the same results.

How do I add the cuts, or additional material in between, and still get it to roll/unroll?

Thanks for your help. dp

Reply to
dpodz
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Copy the outer surface using offset (offset of "0"). Trim the surface to the shape of the cut, then Cut-Thicken with the trimmed surface.

-OR- Use an offset surface to define the depth of the cut, the Cut-Extrude up to the offset surface.

Reply to
That70sTick

That's the damndest thing...I just tried every way I could think of (unfold, offset from..., etc.), and I either end up with no cut whatsoever, or it goes through no matter what depth I specify. Maybe it's just too early in the morning and my coffee hasn't kicked in yet...

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP CAD Administrator HySecurity Gate Operators

Reply to
Jeff Mirisola

That's the damndest thing...I just tried every way I could think of (unfold, offset from..., etc.), and I either end up with no cut whatsoever, or it goes through no matter what depth I specify. Maybe it's just too early in the morning and my coffee hasn't kicked in yet...

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP CAD Administrator HySecurity Gate Operators

Reply to
Jeff Mirisola

That's the damndest thing...I just tried every way I could think of (unfold, offset from..., etc.), and I either end up with no cut whatsoever, or it goes through no matter what depth I specify. Maybe it's just too early in the morning and my coffee hasn't kicked in yet...

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP CAD Administrator HySecurity Gate Operators

Reply to
Jeff Mirisola

The reason it won't work is pretty simple - by adding a shallow cut and asking SW to "flatten it", you're asking the software to "deform" a material plastically, which falls outside the scope of what the Sheetmetal functionality is capable of at the present moment. It's kind of like designing a stamped part (for example, a cooking pot). You can design the shape of the part just fine, but getting the correct flat pattern is impossible without some other software which can calculate true material defomation.

You could try a surface approach as That70sTick suggested, or creating two features separately - one in the "rolled" config and one in the "flat" config.

Reply to
Fye

I tried using a surface with zero offset but when the part is flattened, the surface remains rolled. Am I doing something wrong?

Reply to
dpodz

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