Sheet metal features and context menus sit in the Mechanical Browser. See Mechanical Browser for Sheet Metal to understand the general principles. This article describes the particular properties and context menus for each node type in the Mechanical Browser.
When working with sheet metal parts, clicking the root node in Mechanical Browser, displays the properties of entire drawing. Sometimes these properties are referred to as the Sheet Metal Context associated with the drawing.
Sheet metal global properties are placed in the bottom part of the Mechanical Browser.
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Global Properties
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Thickness: global sheet metal material thickness.
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Bend radius: default radius of bend features; it can be changed per bend as well.
- Type: either thickness ratio or absolute value.
- Value: either ratio or value.
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Sharp bend radius limit : maximum bend radius to be considered a sharp (regular) bend. Used in SmConvert and SmReliefCreate commands to distinguish between regular and lofted bends.
- Type: either thickness ratio or absolute value.
- Value: either ratio or value.
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Bend relief width: width of the cut near a single bend.
- Type: either thickness ratio or absolute value.
- Value: either ratio or value.
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Relief extension: size of the bend or corner relief extension.
- Type: either thickness ratio or absolute value.
- Value: either ratio or value.
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Corner relief diameter: default diameter of a circular corner relief.
- Type: minimal possible or absolute value.
 
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Junction gap : gap between two adjacent flanges.
- Type: either thickness ratio or absolute value.
- Value: either ratio or value.
 
 
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Junction alignment : controls the alignment of junction faces with the corresponding corner relief faces.
- Type: either thickness ratio or absolute value.
- Value: either ratio or value.
- Junction Alignment: can be enabled
 or disabled
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Flange split gap: gap between thickness faces of a flange or the adjacent bend when splitting, see SmSplit.
- Type: either thickness ratio or absolute value.
- Value: either ratio or value.
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Flange split extension: controls the depth cut of an adjacent flange in case of a flange split.
- Type: either thickness ratio or absolute value.
- Value: either ratio or value.
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Rib profile radius: radius of a tool, which creates the rib.
- Type: either thickness ratio or absolute value.
- Value: either ratio or value.
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Rib round radius: radius of the fillet between the flange and a rib.
- Type: either thickness ratio or absolute value.
- Value: either ratio or value.
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Rib fillet radius: radius of the rib control curve filleting, see Working with Form and Rib Features.
- Type: either profile radius ratio or absolute value.
- Value: numeric value.
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Unfolding: parameters for the unfolded representation.
Default K-Factor: K-Factor for the bend radius equal to the thickness, see K-Factor.
Bend table: displays the Open dialog for bend tables in CSV file format.
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Bend line extent: controls how far bend a line extends beyond the unfolding boundary (zero and negative values are allowed).
- Type: either thickness ratio or absolute value.
- Value: either ratio or value.
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Unfolding mode: controls the appearance of form features in the unfolded representation.
- Keep: keep the 3D representation of the form feature.
- Remove: completeley remove form features from the unfolded representation.
- Project: project all edges of form features as 2D entities.
- Contour: project only the contour of form features as 2D entities.
- Symbol: place 2D symbols at the insertion points in unfolded representation.
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The Sheet metal feature context menu displays when right clicking on a feature while feature properties displayed automatically when selecting a feature in the Mechanical Browser.
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Feature Context
Menus
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Common tools:
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Disable: temporarily disables a feature and skips its constraining.
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Dissolve: removes a feature but keep its geometry. Design intent associated with the geometry of a dissolved feature will be removed.
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Delete: same as the SmDelete command. Removes features from the Mechanical browser and deletes the corresponding geometry inthe model.
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Zoom to: zooms to the selected feature.
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Collapse all: collapses the main component and all components and subcomponents.
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Expand all: expands the main component and all components and subcomponents.
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Flange feature
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Right click a flange feature: 
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| Bend feature |
Right click on a bend feature: 
- Switch to junction: switches to a junction feature type with a gap between adjacent flanges.
- Switch to lofted bend: switches to a lofted bend feature.
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| Lofted Bend feature |
Right click on a lofted bend feature: 
- Switch to junction: switches to a junction feature type with a gap between adjacent flanges.
- Switch to bend: switches to bend feature.
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| Wrong Bend feature |
Right click on a wrong bend feature: 
- Repair feature: repairs a wrong bend feature by creating a bend feature with proper geometry, if possible.
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| Bend Relief feature |
Right click on bend relief feature: 
- Switch to smooth, round or rip: switches a bend relief to the selected feature type.
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| Corner relief feature |
Right click on corner relief feature: 
- Switch to V-type or circular: switches a corner relief feature to the selected feature type.
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| Junction feature |
Right click on junction feature: 
- Switch to bend: switches to a bend feature.
- Switch type of the feature: switches the alignment mode between symmetrical and aligned with one of the flanges.
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| Miter feature |
Right click on miter feature: 
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| Form feature |
Right click on form feature: 
- Select same feature: selects all form features of the same type in the model.
- Explode to flanges and bends: explodes a form feature into a set of flanges and bends, if possible.
- Repair feature: recalculates the insertion point of a form feature.
- Replace...: displays the Open dialog box in order to choose a replacement form feature.
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| Feature Properties |
Common property:
- Name: the name of the selected sheet metal feature. Optionally type a name for the feature. The default name of a feature is the feature type plus an increment, e.g. Flange_1, Flange_2, ...
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Flange feature
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Click a flange feature:
- Thickness: current thickness. The value is read-only; it equals the sheet metal component thickness property.
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Bend feature
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Click a bend feature:
- Angle: current angle of the bend feature; can be changed by the SmFlangeRotate command.
- Radius: current bend radius.
- Radius type:
- Thickness ratio: ratio of thickness multiplied by a coefficient
- Absolute value: the global value (main sheet metal component properties).
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| Bend relief |
Click a bend relief feature:
- Relief type: current relief type; either rectangular, smooth, round or rip
- Width: width of the cut near the bend; either global, thickness ratio or absolute.
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| Corner relief |
Click a corner relief feature:
- Relief type: current relief type; either rectangular 2 bends, rectangular, v-type or circular
- Width: width of the cut near corner.; either global, thickness ratio or absolute.
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| Junction feature |
Click a junction feature:
- Junction gap: gap between two adjacent flanges.
- Junction gap type: either global, thickness ratio or absolute.
- Connection type: controls the relative position of adjacent flanges; either symmetric or adjacent to one of the flanges.
- Junction alignment: controls the position of the faces of a junction feature; either global, enabled (aligned with the corresponding corner relief feature faces) or disabled
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| Miter feature |
Click a miter feature:
- Miter gap: gap between the side faces of the miter.
- Type: either thickness ratio or absolute.
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| Form feature |
Click a form feature:
- Component name: name of form feature component definition.
- Parameters: contains the parameters of a parametric sheet metal form feature.
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