Advanced Sheet Metal Design Using NX Cad Challenge_5_Odd Shaped Enclosure

Advanced Sheet Metal Design Using NX Cad Challenge_5_Odd Shaped Enclosure

Objective-To study and learn the workflow procedure to design a

Sheet Metal part for odd shapes’ using Siemens NX Sheet Metal Application.

 

Introduction-

What Is Sheet Metal?

According to a definition in a professional journal, it can be defined as:

Sheet metal is a comprehensive cold working process for metal sheets (usually below

6mm), including shearing, punching/cutting/, folding, riveting, splicing, forming (such as

car body) etc.

Its remarkable feature is the same thickness of the same part.

 

Types of Sheet Metal

Commonly used sheet metal materials can be divided into two categories, which are:

• Galvanized steel

• Stainless steel

Characteristics of Sheetmetal-

Sheet metal has the characteristics of light weight, high strength, conductive (can be used

for electromagnetic shielding), low cost, and good mass production performance.

It has been widely used in the fields of electronic appliances, communications, automobile

industry, medical devices, etc.

For example, in computer cases, mobile phones, MP3, sheet metal is an indispensable

component.

With the more and more extensive application of sheet metal, the design of sheet metal

parts has become a very important part in the process of product development.

Mechanical engineers must master the design skills of sheet metal parts, so that the

designed sheet metal can not only meet the requirements of product function and

appearance, but also make the stamping die manufacturing simple and low-cost.

Design methodology / approach-

The design methodology or approach which is used in this modelling is described below with the help of a flow chart-

Description of the commands and tools used-

Sketch - It is the basic of any design.

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.

Flange - It is used to create an extended part (bend) of a sheet metal. It is created at the edge of one side of the model. 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 feature is used to unbend the adjacent bends and flatten them. Here it is used to create more features. This command is used to unbend the sheet metal parts to create geometries and work on complicated designs. In this command, we have to select a stationary face and then select the corners of flanges to unbend.

Rebend - It is used to re-bend the corners that were bent before along with any features added after the unbend feature.

Bead - It lifts material along the contour of a sketch that simulates a stamping tool, it is used for giving strength to the sheet metal. Here two beads are created on the unbent surface. 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 directions.

Louver: Lifts an area of the model inside a sketch that simulates stamping a tool.

Hole - It adds a hole to one or more solid bodies in a part or an assembly with options for counterbored, countersunk and threaded. Here six simple holes are created on the unbent surface with a diameter of 10mm. It can be used to make customized or standardized holes along with a defined point or path. The depth of the hole can be controlled.

Flat pattern - It creates a flat pattern feature from the formed sheet metal part. 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.

Screenshot of the model from various views-

Image of the Drafiting Sheet-

Conclusion-

With this project i learned how to wrap the sheet metal around any solid body and insert various detailing features in it. Also how to draft the drawing sheet in NX with flat pattern command.

Report Prepared By-

Rishabh Soni