Sheet Metal with SolidCraft

Sheet 07 of 12

Fold: Bend a Flat Plate Along a Sketch Line

In 5 minutes you'll turn a flat plate into a channel by folding it along two sketch lines, and see why the flat size doesn't change.

Part
Fold
Rule
Steel 2mm
Sheet
t 2 · R 2 · K 0.4
Time
5 min
Status
Open
  1. OP 10Watch
  2. OP 20Turn the part
  3. OP 30Build
  4. OP 40Inspect
  5. OP 50Quiz

OP 10Watch

Video in productionBuild along with the steps in OP 30 meanwhile.

Chapters
  1. 00:00Fold or Flange?
  2. 00:30The flat plate
  3. 01:10Draw the fold lines
  4. 02:00First fold
  5. 02:50Second fold
  6. 03:20The flat pattern
  7. 04:00Common mistake
  8. 04:30Your exercise

OP 20Turn the part

The finished part

Drag to turn, scroll or pinch to zoom. Flat shows the blank before it is bent: the same sheet, the same frame.

OP 30Build it in SolidCraft

Your task

Fold this channel from a flat plate in SolidCraft 0.21:

  1. Use the rule Steel 2mm: thickness 2 mm, bend radius 2 mm, K-factor 0.4, active.
  2. Sketch a 140 × 80 mm rectangle on XY, corner at the origin, and finish the sketch.
  3. Flange on the sketch to make the flat plate.
  4. Start a new sketch on the top face of the plate.
  5. Draw a line from (0, 20) to (140, 20) and one from (0, 60) to (140, 60). Finish the sketch.
  6. Fold on the first line: Centerline, angle 90°, bend radius from the rule.
  7. Fold on the second line with the same settings. Both sides should fold up.
  8. Click Flat Pattern (Sheet Metal tab › Flat) and write down the flat size and the number of bends.

What to write down

  • Both numbers of the Flat size row.
  • The number of bends (the Bends row).

Type them below and press Check. Before you look: do you expect the flat to be bigger than the plate you drew, or the same?

OP 40Inspect

Enter what SolidCraft shows you. Each value is checked against SolidCraft's own result, within the tolerance shown. Nothing you type leaves this page.

± 0.05 mm mm

± 0.05 mm mm

exact

Show the drawing and bend table
exercise · Steel 2mm · t 2 · R 2 · K 0.4
140 mm80 mm

Flat blank 140.000 × 80.000 mm · 2 bends

BendAngleDir.R mmLength mmAllowance mm
190°up21404.398
290°up21404.398

exercise.solidcraftexercise.json

OP 50Quiz

Q1Which sketch does Fold need?

Q2You fold a 140 × 80 plate. What happens to the flat size?

Q3The fold goes down instead of up. What do you change?