Educational software to develop sheet metal with Solid Edge

Abstract

This article presents a useful application for university courses in Engineering Graphics, and for manufacturing processes based on developing sheet metal. From the basis of a three-dimensional surface, the application can generate its development, as well as its area and perimeter that could be used by a conventional numerical control machine (CNC) to cut the sheet.

Design and Development of Sheet-Metal Elbows Using Programming with Visual Basic for Applications in CATIA

“…A number of the scientific publications on the development and manufacture of sheetmetal parts have dealt with the subject from different points of view. These range from tools for the design of sheet-metal parts with Solid Edge as educational tools [6], and assisted manufacturing for drawing sheet-metal parts [7], to visual inspection techniques with CAD data [8], manufacturing technologies from CAD files [9], the application of CAD/CAM technology in the development and lofting of complex sheet parts [10], robot-assisted sheet-metal bending with off-line programming and simulation from CAD drawings [11], and the automatic import of XML files with optimised geometric information from 3D CAD models of sheet-metal parts [12].…”