Advanced Sheet Metal Design Using NX Cad Challenge_2_Box Assembly

ADVANCED SHEET METAL DESIGN USING NXCAD – BOX ASSEMBLY

OBJECTIVE

To design a sheet metal Box Assembly using the NX sheet metal application.

 INTRODUCTION

Sheet metals are thin, flat pieces of metal that are formed by various industrial processes. Typical sheet-metal thicknesses are between 0.4 mm (1/64 in) and 6 mm(1/4 in). When thickness exceeds about 6 mm, the stock is usually referred to as a plate rather than a sheet. The sheet or plate stock used in sheet metalworking is produced by flat Rolling. The most commonly used sheet metal is low carbon steel (0.06%–0.15% C typical). Sheet metal is characterized by a high ratio of surface area to thickness. Sheet metals are widely used in the automobile, aerospace, and piping industries.

Siemens NX software is used for sheet metal design. NX sheet metal provides a good set of tools in order to design the sheet metal part while the manufacturability of the sheet metal is also considered.

DESIGN METHODOLOGY

STEP 1

Create a base of dimensions 150x200 mm and thickness 1mm using Tab feature.

STEP 2

Sidewalls normal to XY plane for the box assembly was created using Flange feature with flange length 200mm. Similarly, sidewalls normal to XZ plane were created with a flange length of 70 mm.

STEP 3

Corners of both the flanges were closed using the Closed Corner feature.

STEP 4

The open flanges normal to the XZ plane were closed using Flange and Hem flange features using appropriate dimensions.

STEP 5

The box was made complete by mirroring the body about the YZ plane using Mirror Body Command.

STEP 6

Unite feature was used to combine the two bodies into a single body

STEP 7

A sketch profile was created on the wall of the box assembly

STEP 8

A dimple of 2mm depth was created with the sketch profile.

STEP 9

Dimple feature was mirrored on another  Sidewall using Mirror Feature Command.

STEP 10

Another profile was sketched on the bottom of the box assembly.

STEP 11

Dimple was created for the profile created on step 10 with 2mm depth and unbend and rebend the box.

STEP 12

Beads of 2mm depth were created on the bottom face using the Beads feature and Mirror feature.

STEP 13

Hem flange was created on the top edges of the walls of the box.

STEP 14

A new datum plane was created with an offset distance of 203 mm from the XY plane.

STEP 15

Sketch profile was created for the lid of the box assembly on the newly created datum plane.

STEP 16

A base of 2mm thickness was created using the previous sketch.

STEP 17

Flanges were created in the three edges of the box lid.

STEP 18

A sketch was created on the sidewall and a hinge was created using Tab, Flange, and Hem, Break corner, and Normal Cutout feature.

STEP 19

A created hinge was mirrored on the other side using the Mirror Body command.

STEP 20

Another side of the hinge was created on the top face of the lid with similar features used to create the first lid and dimensions were adjusted to match the two hinges.

STEP 21

The appearance was added to every individual body of the box assembly.

DESCRIPTION

1. Sketch

Sketch tools enable the user to sketch the two-dimensional cross-sectional drawing of the part/component.

2. Tab

It is used to create a base for the sheet metal part with respect to the Sketch Which is created with the user-defined thickness and direction vector.

3. Bend

Modifies the model by creating a bend in the material on any of the one sides of the sketch line.

4. Flange

Adds a flange at an angle to the planar face and creates a bend between the two it gets extended from the edge of the sheet metal

5. Normal Cut-out

It removes a sketched portion on the face of the sheet metal

6. Break corner

This feature is used to smoothen or add a chamfer to the sharp edges of the tabs and flanges of the sheet metal part

7. Unbend

Unbend feature is used to flatten the bends and flanges created with respect to the stationary face

8. Rebend

This feature unbends the materials to its previous bent state.

9. Dimple

It is used to create a lift or depression of a sketch on the surface of the sheet metal

10. Bead

Lifts material along the contour of the sketch that simulates a stamping tool.

11. Datum Plane

Creates a new datum plane with respect to a reference

12. Hem Flange

Hem flange creates a fold on the edges of the sheet metal

   13.Closed Corner

Creates a closed corner where two flanges meet.

  14.Mirror Body

Copies a body and mirrors it across a plane

  15.Unite

This feature combines two different bodies to make it into a single body.

16. Mirror Feature

Copies a feature and mirrors it across a plane

 The below are images of box assembly in different views

Isometric View

Top view

Bottom View

Front View

CONCLUSION

The sheet metal Box assembly was designed using the NX Sheet metal application.