ANSYS Discovery SpaceClaim

Sheet metal options

You can set the wall thickness, bend, and relief defaults for sheet metal components. These defaults can be changed for each component or bend by selecting the component or bend and modifying the property values in the Properties panelArea of the user interface that displays editable details about the selected object(s). This panel is initially displayed on the lower left side of the screen, but can be moved.. Units for sheet metal options are set by your Units options for all new documents.

Options in the Basic Defaults section apply to all new designs, and persist after you close Discovery SpaceClaim. Options in the Relief Defaults section apply only to new designs in the current session.

To customize sheet metal options

1. Select Discovery SpaceClaim Options from the File menu to display the Discovery SpaceClaim Options window.

2. Click Sheet Metal in the navigation panel on the left.

3. Modify the options on the page.

4. Click OK to save all your changes and close the window.

If you try to enter a value that is out of the allowed range in the Options panelArea of the user interface that enables you to modify functions specific to tools. or the Discovery SpaceClaim Options dialog, you will see a red exclamation mark icon next to the field. You can hover over the icon to see a tooltip that will explain the valid values for the option.

Basic Defaults

Thickness: Type a value for the default wall thickness of sheet metal parts.

Bend Table: Specify an existing Bend Table as the default for new parts.

K-Factor (for R=T): Type a value for the K-factorParameter of bends in a sheet metal part used to calculate the bend radius. K-factor is a percentage of the metal thickness and depends on factors such as the material and type of bending operation. Relates to the depth of the neutral axis; a line within the sheet where the length does not change when the sheet is bent. The inside of the bend is under compression, the outside is under tension, and the neutral axis occurs somewhere between the midpoint of the material (K-factor=0.50) and a point closer to the inside of the bend (K-factor=0.25).. The K-factor is a value between .25 and .50 that is used to calculate the bend radius. K-factor is a percentage of the metal thickness and depends on factors such as the material and type of bending operation.

Bend radius: Type a value for the default bend radius. The value is a Thickness ratio by default, but you can select Value to enter an absolute value.

SplitUsing the Combine tool to split solids or surfaces. You select a solid or surface to use as a Cutting tool to cut the target. See Cutter object. face gap: Set the default gap created when you bend a split face, which is shown as C in the image below.

Junction gap: Set the default gap created in Full, Partial, and No Overlap Junctions and Flanges.

• Thickness ratio to change the gap based on the thickness of the wall.

• Value to specify the exact width of the gap.

Junction overlap: Set the percentage of overlap in Partial Overlap Junctions. The default is 50%.

• For individual Partial Overlap Junctions, you can change the Overlap Proportion property in the Sheet Metal properties panel with the Junction selected.

Bend annotations: Set the format for displaying Bend Annotations in the Unfolded part.

+/- Angle
+/- Angle Radius
Up/Down Angle
Up/Down Angle Radius

When the Bend Radius is set to Thickness ratio and you change the sheet metal part thickness for the part, the value for the Inner Radius now changes in the Sheet Metal Properties panel. In other words, changing the part thickness property will not change all the bend radii, but the displayed bend radius changes to show that there is a problem for you to fix. You can fix them by selecting the desired bends and changing their properties manually.

Trim bend lines to part outline: Controls whether Bend Lines extend beyond the Unfolded part outline. OFF by default.

When unchecked, the lines extend beyond the outline.



When checked, the lines are trimmed at the part outline.

Relief Defaults

Bend Relief: These values are the defaults used when you create a bend.

• Type: Choose Square, Rounded, or Rip from the menu.
  • To use a different Relief for an individual bend, choose a Type from the Edge3D object composed of a single outside boundary of a feature. A line sketched in 2D becomes an edge when you pull your sketch into 3D. Relief menu in the ribbon.
  • To change the Type after a bend is created, select the Relief and change the type in the Options panel.
• Width and Depth:
  • Thickness ratio to change the relief width and depth based on the thickness of the wall.
  • Value to specify the exact width and depth of the bend relief.

In the images below, A is the width and B is the depth of the bend relief.

Square relief	Rounded relief

CornerSee FilletRounded corner at the intersection of two lines or edges; concave intersection between two surfaces. Fillet refers to an interior corner; exterior corner is known as a round. You can draw a fillet using the Create Rounded Corner tool or by selecting the Fillet (Constant radius round) option from the PullTool used to distort or deform geometry. Use the Pull tool to offset, extrude, revolve, sweep, draft, and blend faces; or to round, chamfer, or extrude edges. When converting a sketch to 3D, pulling a line creates a surface and pulling a surface creates a solid. options. See RoundRounded corner at the intersection of two lines or edges. Round refers to an exterior corner; an interior corner is known as a fillet. Rounds and fillets are both called rounds. See Fillet, Constant-radius round, Variable-radius round.. (interior corner) or Round (exterior corner) relief: These values are the defaults used when you create a corner.

• Type: Choose one of the relief Types from the dropdown menu
  • Each Type has settings as follows:
    • Smooth - Diameter
    • Square - Width
    • Circular - Diameter
    • Triangular - Width and Height
    • Rectangular - Width and Height
    • Oblong - Diameter
    • Diagonal - Width
    • Laser Edge - Diameter
    • Laser Symmetric - Diameter
• Depth:

  • Thickness ratio to change the relief width and depth based on the thickness of the wall.

  • Value to specify the exact width and depth of the bend relief.

In the image below, D is the Corner Relief depth.

Export

Round all sharp corners at DXFDrawing Interchange Format or Drawing Exchange Format. CAD data file format developed by Autodesk for enabling data interoperability between AutoCAD and other programs. You can open and insert drawings, parts, and assemblies.Drawings can be inserted as layouts. You can export parts, assemblies, drawing sheets, and 3D markup slides. export: Select this option to round all the edges in your design whose neighboring faces are not co-planar when you export a DXF file. You can set the round radius values if you select this option.

Export bend extent lines at DXF export:Select this option to export the bend extent lines at DXF export. Bend lines can be trimmed to the part outline if Trim bend lines to part outline is checked in the Basic Defaults section. OFF by default.

Colors

Select highlighting colors to use on sheet metal designs. To distinguish between corner reliefs and edge reliefs, select two different colors. Colors on designs will appear more saturated than the colors shown in the sheet metal options.

Click Reset Colors to restore the default colors.

Unfold Layers

Assign default layer colors and linestyle for:

• Bend Lines-Up
• Bend Lines-Down
• Forms
• Overall DimensionsValues or expressions you enter for precise control during the creation or modification of a design. You can dimension every element, from lines in sketches to faces of solids. See Ordinate dimensions, Progressive dimensions, Ruler dimension. (color only)
• Bend Dimensions (color only)