Book Image

Mastering SOLIDWORKS Sheet Metal

By : Johno Ellison
Book Image

Mastering SOLIDWORKS Sheet Metal

By: Johno Ellison

Overview of this book

SOLIDWORKS© is the premier software choice for 3D engineering and product design applications across a wide range of industries, and the Sheet Metal module forms an important part of this powerful program. This book will help you to understand exactly what Sheet Metal is, why it is used, and how you can make the most of this fundamental design feature. You’ll start by understanding the basic tools, including Base Flanges and Sketched Bends, before moving on to more complex features such as Custom Forming Tools and Lofted Bends. The book covers all the necessary tools in a step-by-step manner and shares practical manufacturing tips and tricks that will allow you to apply the skills that you learn to real-world situations. By the end of this SOLIDWORKS book, you’ll have understood how to make the best use of SOLIDWORKS Sheet Metal tools and be able to create a whole range of 3D models and designs confidently.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Section 1: Getting Started with the Sheet Metal Module
6
Section 2: Advanced Sheet Metal Tools
13
Section 3: Converting 3D Parts to Sheet Metal and Creating a Sheet Metal Enclosure

Adding more details to the enclosure

Now that we have the bare bones of the enclosure base, we can begin to add some more features to expand the functionality. We will start by adding some circular cut-outs to the front face of the base. These holes might be for LED indicators, for cables, or perhaps even for ventilation.

There are three main ways that we can make circular cut-outs in SolidWorks Sheet Metal:

  • Simple Hole: This tool allows basic circles to be cut into a sheet. The circle diameter is specified using the tool's Property Manager but this tool is the least useful of the three options because the sketch of the feature then needs editing to specify the exact position of the hole. For this reason, it is often just as fast to use one of the other two options.
  • Extruded Cut: This option can be used, along with the Circle Tool, to make circular holes, but it is more useful when creating non-circular cut-outs. This is shown in more detail when we create a rectangular...