Modifying Flanges

BricsCAD provides several tools to modify flanges in sheet metal parts. These tools can be applied consistently to any part - independent of its design history. In this article we use Solid Modeling tools and specific sheet metal tools. Almost all solid modeling tools apply to sheet metal parts, while preserving the design intelligence provided by Sheet Metal Features.

Changing flange size and shape

On a given simple model we will apply several Solid Modeling operations to modify the shape of its flanges.

Note: We work on thickness faces of the model only

Stretching flanges

  1. Hover over the thickness face, then select PushPull in the Model command group in the Quad menu.
  2. Drag the face, then right-click.
    The changes will be applied to the part, the flange is stretched over the specified distance.

Rotating a thickness face

  1. Hover over the face and choose Rotate in the Model command group in the Quad menu.
  2. Specify the rotation axis, base point and angle (for more details, see DMROTATE in the Command Reference):
  3. Fillet the sharp edges.
    Hover over a thickness edge and choose Same Length Edges () in the Select command group in the Quad menu.
  4. Press Enter. Edges with the same length are selected.
  5. Choose Fillet in the Model command group in the Quad menu.
  6. Specify the desired fillet radius:

Making a hole in a flange

  1. Create 4 circles as indicated in the image below. Use the Snap to Center entity snap to define the center points.
  2. Select the circles.
  3. Choose Solid extrude in the Model command group in the Quad menu.
  4. Move the cursor to create the holes.

Moving a flange

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Click the Push/Pull tool button () on the Direct Modeling toolbar.
    • Choose Direct Modeling > Push/Pull in the Model menu.
    • Choose Push/Pull () in the Edit panel of the Sheet Metal tab in the ribbon.
    • Run the DMPUSHPULL command for given face.
    • Hover over the face you want to move and choose Push/Pull in the Model command group in the Quad menu.
  2. Select new position of the flange.
    Note: Due to presence of Sheet Metal Features, part thickness is preserved.

Rotating a flange

Although it is possible to rotate a flange using the DMROTATE command (), it is recommended to use SMFLANGEROTATE () instead, because this command automatically selects the rotation axis to respect the design intent of the sheet metal part.

  1. Launch the SMFLANGEROTATE () command.
    You are prompted: Select a flange face to rotate:
    Flange faces under the cursor highlight.
  2. Click to select a flange face.
    The flange rotates dynamically.
    A dynamic dimension displays the current angle with respect to the base flange.
  3. Do one of the following:
    • Select a point.
    • Type a value in the dynamic dimension field.
    • Press the TAB key, then specify the absolute rotation angle in the dynamic dimension field.
Note: When the DMROTATE command is used to rotate a flange, which is connected to other flanges by junction features, these features are automatically dissolved before the rotation.

Splitting a flange

In some cases flanges are better split to minimize the material consumption, for example, when a flange has a large hole, as shown in the image below:

  1. Launch the SMSPLIT () command.
    You are prompted: Select lines or edges to split the flange or [SMart split/draw a New line/selection options (?)] <draw a New line>:
  2. Press Enter to accept the default option.
    You are prompted: Start point of the line:
  3. Hover over the face you want to split (make sure Dynamic UCS (DUCS) is ON).
    The face highlights.
  4. Specify the start point of the line.
    You are prompted: End point of the line:
  5. Specify the end point of the line:
    You are prompted: Make split Center/Left/Right/<Accept model>:
  6. To adjust the position of the cut with respect to the line, do one of the following:
    • Hit the CTRL key to toggle the Center/Left/Right options.
      If TIPS is ON, the currently selected option is indicated in the Tips Widget.
    • Select Center , Left or Right in the Prompt Menu.
    • Type an option in the Command line, then press Enter.
      The flange is cut by the line: left, center or right.
Note: A split operation creates a miter feature. You can restore the initial flange by removing the miter feature from the feature list in Mechanical Browser.

Smart tools to split a flange

The scenario below illustrates the other capabilities of the SMSPLIT command:
  • Smart split by selecting a single vertex in the corner.
  • Split off the bend and convert the part adjacent to the corner into a junction.
  1. Do one of the following:
    • Click the Smart Split tool () on the Sheet Metal ribbon tab.
    • Choose Smart Split in the Mechanical > Sheet Metal > Split menu.
    • Type SMSPLIT in the Command line.

      You are prompted: Select lines or edges to split the flange or [SMart split/draw a New line/selection options (?)] <draw a New line>:

      Choose the SMart split option.

  2. You are prompted: Select point on flange or lofted bend border for smart split or [Flange propagate/vertex Propagate] <vertex Propagate>:
  3. Select a corner vertex or snap to a point on an edge off the flange you want to split:
    You are prompted: Make split [Center/Left/Right/Accept] <Accept>:
  4. Do one of the following:
    • Press Enter to accept the split.
    • Repeatedly press the CTRL key.
      If TIPS is ON, the currently selected option is indicated in the Tips Widget.
      The flange is cut by a line through the specified point. The bend is partially converted into the junction:
      In case of the Center option if Smart Features are turned on, corner reliefs adjacent to the split will be converted into bend reliefs.
    Note: The conversion of part of the bend into a junction is unrelated to the Smart Split mode.

Bending a flange

The SMFLANGEBEND command bends one or more flanges using a line. You can either draw the line first, then start the command, or use the New Line option of the command.

To bend multiple flanges simultaneously

  1. Launch the SMFLANGEBEND command.
    You are prompted: Select a flange face [selection options (?)]:
  2. Select the flange you want to bend.
    You are prompted: Select line or edge to bend the solid or draw a [New line] <New line>:
  3. Do one of the following:
    • Select a line that overlaps the flange(s) to be bent.
    • Choose the New Line option.
      You are prompted to draw a line on top of the flange(s) to be bent.
    You are prompted: Select flange position [Angle/Radius/Switch side/Toggle bend extents/ACcept] <Accept>:
    Pick a point at the side of the line you want to move.
    The selected part is bent dynamically.
  4. (option) Type a value to define the bend angle, using the default bend radius.
  5. (option) Select the Radius option.

    You are prompted: Enter bend radius [Back] <Back>:

    Type a value to override the default bend radius and press Enter.

  6. (option) Select the Angle option.

    You are prompted: Enter bend angle [Back] <Back>:

    Type a value to define the bend angle.

Connecting flanges

The SMFLANGECONNECT command closes gaps between 2 arbitrarily oriented flanges.

  1. Launch the SMFLANGECONNECT command.
    You are prompted: Select planar thickness faces of two flanges:
    Flange faces under the cursor highlight.
  2. Select the thickness face of the first flange.
    You are prompted:
    Entities/subentities in set: 1
    Select planar thickness faces of two flanges:
  3. Select the thickness face of the second flange.
    The selected thickness faces are connected.
Note: After connecting 2 flanges, you can convert the junction feature to a bend.