What You Should Know About Designing for Sheet Metal

Software tuned for designing sheet-metal parts as solid models requires rethinking the way
you work. Experienced designers and manufacturers offer these guidelines
May 7, 1999Paul Dvorak | Machine Design

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Designing sheet-metal parts as 3D solid models sounds odd. The parts are punched, stamped, or
burned out of flat material thats easy to describe in 2D CAD. So why bother with solids?

It turns out there are plenty of good reasons. For instance, solids let engineers see the part
in 3D rather than guessing what it might look like from a flat pattern or even top, front, and
side views. Many sheet-metal programs now include knowledge bases that hold design and
manufacturing information such as the tools available in the shop. Then if a designer calls
for a hole that requires purchasing nonstandard tooling, the software quickly issues a
warning to that effect, letting the designer reevaluate the request. Whats more, the software
can calculate bend radii without having to pick up a handbook, flatten 3D designs for
production, and automatically dimension drawings.
But all the capabilities provided by software can still get users into trouble if not used
correctly. The experts we spoke to offered these guidelines and rules of thumb for designing
with sheet-metal software.
The top ten

My first suggestion doesnt even involve software, says James Gibney, a consulting engineer with
Pro CAD Inc., West Caldwell, N.J. Spend some time in the shop, if at all possible, to learn how parts
are stamped, punched, and folded into products. How can you design something if you dont know
how it will be manufactured?

The idea came to Gibney while working as the senior designer for a sheet-metal shop. When
negotiations with clients got serious, the sales staff would bring him into the equation. It
turned out the discussions would not revolve around costs, but on metal-bending
technology, something the salespeople lacked. So why not let new salespeople and designers
spend two weeks on the shop floor helping move products to the shipping dock before
sending them out to sell? Theyll learn the capability of the machines, available tools, and
what experienced personnel can and cannot do. And they turn out to be better sales people
than those who did not have the experience, he says.
Training in the shop can be invaluable. When its not available, get proper training in the
software and work through the tutorials, suggests Joseph Riden, a consulting engineer in
San Diego. Working with 3D software requires a different mindset than 2D methods
because it provides more downstream possibilities than 2D technology. For example, 3D
sheet-metal models allow checking for interference in assemblies, or building tools from the
part model.

In addition to learning the software, learn how work flows through your facility. If you look at the
design process from a high level, says Riden, you see a lot of activities and the people involved from
idea conception through product release and manufacturing. Its useful to know the detail in between
because youll be making decisions everyday that feed into the flow or work against it. And its easy
to unconsciously make decisions that hinder the process flow, he says.

For example, a design engineer might make a decision based on an assumption about a part
rather than asking how it fits into an assembly. I may design the part in a way that makes it
more difficult to assemble, says Riden, but if I go to the manufacturing floor and look at
the tools they have, I can get a better idea about how to manufacture the part.
And dont assume the part will be made of sheet metal, suggests Tony DiBari, who directs
the technology team with Tyler Refrigeration, Niles, Mich. Design the part for its function
first and then decide whether or not to make it out of plastic or another material. Your
volume requirements will play a factor as will durability requirements.

When sheet metal is a good candidate for the part, dont assign a thickness right off, suggests DiBari.
The focus of the design should be on the part, not its thickness. Use the power in the software to
shape the part by starting with the allowable volume and coming to the right design. Then assign a
thickness, he says. Most systems can provide a default thickness that might not be good for the
design.

Pro Cads Gibney suggests changing thickness only if you plan on thoroughly reexamining
the part afterward. Assigning features and placing bends for one thickness may be grossly
inappropriate for a thicker material. Holes can turn into ovals or suddenly wind up in
bends when you thought theyd be somewhere else, he adds. So dont casually change the
assigned thickness.

Software training will probably not cover company design guidelines, so ask about the departments
design and shop manufacturing preferences. Youll have to take into consideration a lot of in-house
developed bending calculations and allowances, says Bruce Kniller, manager of CAD services with
Utilimaster, Wakarusa, Ind. Just about every design facility has a book or listing of their preferences
gleaned from years of experience with the material and product. Many of those preferences depend
on the manufacturing process how the material forms on the press brake, a machine tool that
bends sheet metal. We dont use the numbers that come out of solid-modeling system because they
are not appropriate for our product. We use our own bend and form angles that calculate the stretch
of the material.

A lot of companies have similar practices. Design software is productive, but its not allknowing because its databases may hold only industry standards. Weve developed a book
of company standards, site standards, and department preferences, says Steve Peters, a
manufacturing engineer with B/Line Inc., Modesto, Calif. It tells users our mathematical
preferences for bends and folds, and a list of frequently encountered terms. We want
designs and drawings set up in the ways described because it minimizes confusion, he says.

A corollary to observing a companys best practices says dont force your manufacturing assumptions
on the shop. For example, the most complex part of a sheet-metal model for our parts is often at
corners where side folds come together and material distortions changes part thickness, says Brent
Thordarson, a designer with Hewlett-Packard Co., in Loveland, Colo. Were not too concerned about
the exact details of those features. What we are concerned about is the dimension of an offset, or just
that the corner is there. You want to agree with the shop that they are to use what works for them.
You care about the overall dimension and that it will not cost a fortune to make.

A variation to the rule is that if you dont need a particular detail, dont put it in the model.
Leave out details that makes the model unduly complex, says Thordarson. For example, if
a corner is to be welded and ground, its probably not critical to model how the corners
created before the welding and grinding. More depends on what the end function turns out
to be, he says.
Wisdom from the shop

The people on the shop floor have their own perspective on your work because they will find your
mistakes, possibly after theyve turned them into useless parts. To make their job, and yours,
progress smoothly, they suggest several additional guidelines, particularly about accuracy and proper
dimensions.

For instance, Tyler Refrigerations DiBari suggests you validate suspect dimensions. Since
design is not manufacturings job, be smart enough to check that dimensions are correct.
On one occasion, a plastic part sent to production from the vendor wouldnt properly fit in
an assembly. Fortunately, we caught the problem with a prototype part. By comparing
drawings, we found the dimension differences that would not allow the parts to fit.
Prototypes are one way to catch such errors.
Others expressed similar problems. Parts get so complex with bends, tabs, and holes that
users often overlook the dimensions for several details, says Dawn Phillips, a
manufacturing assistant with Georgia Hi-Tech in Vidalia, Ga. Filling in each missing

dimension on the drawing can take up to an hour each. In the meantime, part production
stops. Accuracy issues also surface with the mention of file transfers. Most manufacturers
relate positive experiences. But on occasion the electronic file, DXF or IGES, doesnt match
the drawing, says Russell Page, CAD/CAM manager with Trident Precision Manufacturing
Inc., Webster, N.Y. Its usually a file-keeping problem, he surmises, where the designer
translates the file and then changes the drawing. The mistake is easier to make in companies
that keep every revision of a product. At times well find a feature thats missing or an
additional feature on the file thats not on the drawing, he says. Our policy is to go with the
electronic file, although it usually warrants a call to the designer. And that temporarily stops
work, he says.
Should your shop express no preference on file format, send them the model of the part you
expect back, as opposed to a flat pattern, suggests Hewlett-Packards Thordarson. Let the
fab shop unfold what you have created, he says. We send them the 3D model and let them
unfold it so they can do things their way. When the shop is incapable of accepting CAD
models, be flexible enough to supply them with a format most useful to them, such as an
IGES file. The part that comes back must fit your assembly, so dont make assumptions on
whats best for them.

If youd like to see what your shop is receiving when using the Initial Graphic Exchange Standard,
translate a model into an IGES file and then translate it back into your modeler. You find that not all
IGES files are created equal. Some programs produce corrupted geometry such as disjointed entities,
arcs that dont meet lines, and lines that dont intersect other lines. You know the errors are coming
from the sending system because the target system can translate only what its given, says Page.

The most troublesome IGES translations usually come from older CAD systems. Its usually
the complex models with lots of operations on which we find disjointed entities, says Page.
And we might spend a half-day on file-repair work before the model can be unfolded.
Some flawed IGES or DXF files come from CAD users simply following the brief instructions
the software provides to produce a file. We have to mend broken geometry before
performing later operations such as unfolding or machining. Anything required downstream
also takes more time.

The solution is simple: Call your manufacturer and ask what file format they can receive most
accurately, suggests Page. We work with a modeler built on the ACIS kernel, so the SAT files come
in with good accuracy, says Page. We also just started using STEP files with good success, he says.

And since design changes are inevitable, always use the solid model and not the flat pattern
when planning to improve or change a part. A lot of designers coming from drawing boards
or 2D CAD always made the flat pattern to drive the design, says Tyler Refrigerations
DiBari. But when folded up, it didnt make or equal the formed view they want. DiBari
recalls his shop had a case in which folded parts didnt match the drawing views because
someone modified the flat pattern instead of the folded design. The shop worked through
that ordeal. Fortunately, switching to solid modeling can eliminate the problem if process
controls are in place and followed. These situations benefit from software that associates flat
and folded models.
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