Designing A Sheet Metal Enclosure With Solidworks

The real power of solidworks comes when you have to design bent sheet metal a task which looks simple but really isn t.

Designing a sheet metal enclosure with solidworks.

So take a firsthand walk. Throughout these lessons we will be creating a sheet metal part for an electrical enclosure confined and driven by a design envelope along with various tools including the edge and miter flanges bolt holes a vent and various other features. As a standard feature solidworks make this pattern for you based it on your previously designed model. That means you need a contour of the sheet metal to be cut known as a flat pattern.

Solidworks 2012 and up. The base flange feature is created from a sketch. You might also like. However in some circumstances when the design requires certain types of geometry you can use non sheet metal feature tools then insert bends or convert the part to sheet metal.

Gabriel sheet metal is a complex industry and understanding the basic process and fundamentals is essential to designing parts that are easy to manufacture. Sheet metal enclosures house and protect circuitry wiring and other sensitive electronic parts and frequently require customization by a professional cad designer. Sheet metal enclosures house and protect circuitry wiring and other sensitive electronic parts and frequently require customization by a professional cad designer. How to make bike anti theft system.

You can design a sheet metal part on its own without any references to the parts it will enclose you can design the part in the context of an assembly that contains the enclosed components or you can design the part within another part document in a multibody environment. However it s up to us as designers to use these tools to create parts that can be easily and efficiently manufactured. A base flange is the first feature in a new sheet metal part. When you add a base flange feature to a solidworks part the part is marked as a sheet metal part.

So take a firsthand walk through designing a sheet metal enclosure for circuit boards and panel mounted connectors as well as fans power cords and switches with solidworks. Https youtu be igtu6tq ao how to download and install solidworks 2016. Before any bending you have to cut the sheet metal. Solidworks sheet metal enclosure part design.

There are specific sheet metal features you can use to create sheet metal bodies quickly. Solidworks has assembled a great set of tools for working with sheet metal. Real world projects are vital to mastering solidworks and sheet metal enclosures are a perfect example of a typical project.