Advanced Sheet Metal Design Using NX Cad Challenge_2_Box Assembly
Title: ADVANCED SHEET METAL NX-CAD DESIGN OF A BOX ASSEMBLY- CHALLENGE 2
Objective: To design a box assembly using sheet-metal operations in NX-CAD.
Introduction:
In this project a box assembly was designed from the scratch following the basic principles and tools to perform sheet metal operations in NX 12.0. The material used for a box can be plastic, steel, ceramic etc. Various alloys can also be used based on the application. The standard thickness of the material in this project is 1mm.
Design Methodology:
The methodology followed is as follows:
Description:
There were a lot of commands used in this challenge that are very essential. Following is the description of each command.
Tab: Tab is a command used to create a base for any sheet metal part that can be extruded from a sketch. The sketching plane can be selected as per the designer’s choice.
Normal Cut: This command is used to cut the material normally or perpendicularly from a datum plane as per our requirements at particular places.
Flanges: This command will allow us to select the edge of the base to create a projecting flat extruded surface. The angle, width, length and type of flange can be determined as per the requirements.
Unbend: This command is used to unbend the sheetmetal parts to create geometries and work on complicated designs. In this command we have to select a stationery face and then select the corners of flanges to unbend.
Dimple: Dimple is a command that can be used to bevel/ lift off the sketched region created on the flat face. The material can be lifted off or pushed down according to the user discretion.
Mirror Feature/Solid/Curve: A feature, curve or a body can be mirrored according to an axis or a plane. For this command to work all the features of the parent part, curve or body need to be selected first and then the plane or axis about which they are pasted.
Edge Break: This is a peculiar command that can create smooth edges after selecting the edges. We can chamfer or create a radius as per the requirements and manufacturability.
Flat Pattern: The user chooses this command to create a flat view of the sheet metal after unbending all the sides and faces. This view can be used in drawing the flat pattern along with the bend radius and other dimensions.
Bend Table: Bend table command ensures to include all the information regarding the properties of each special feature. The properties include radius, direction, angle etc.
Bead: The selected sketch is lifted off from the base to provide strength to the material. Similar to dimple, the material can be removed in both the directions.
Hem: This command is used to strengthen the solid sheet metal for usage basis. Either the edge of a flange or a tab need to be selected or a sketch on any surface.
Unite: In this command, two bodies are united or unified into a single body. After this command is used the two bodies would then be considered as one.
Closed Corner: It is used to close the round corners for manufacturability. This command can also be used to have smooth transition without any jerks while tracing the tool path.
Views of the completed part:
Isometric: Front:
Top: Side:
Drafting Drawing:
Conclusions:
The sheet metal design of a box assembly was completed using the basic commands such as Tab, Flange, Normal Cutout, Hem, Unite, Dimple, Unbend, Bead, Flat pattern, Bend table, edge break and Mirror feature/body/curve. The mirror command in this project was excessively used.These basic commands have influenced the designer to maintain the geometric constraints and achieve the final product.