Sheet Metal Design Basics in NX

Sheet metal parts have a uniform thickness on all features and regions of the parts.

Some of the sheet metal design characteristics.

• Uniform thickness on all regions of the part.
• Mostly same bending radius is used in the bendings of the sheet metal.
• NX shows the perfect bending axis of the sheet metal for manufacturing. (k factor is important)
• NX shows intersections of the sheet metal by flattening the sheet metal.
• You can convert 3d models (non-sheet metal parts) to sheet metal parts.
• You can change the sheet metal thickness and bending radius in the NX Sheet metal application.

Steps to create Sheet Metal parts in NX.

1. Create a Base region of the sheet metal.
   
2. Create features.
   • Bending features. (Flange, Contour Flange, etc..)
     
   • Add or cutout details
     
   • Punch features.
   • Corner details
     
3. Check intersections of the un-bended sheet metal by flattening the final product in NX
4. Create a flat pattern of the sheet metal and export it to .dwg or .dxf file for the manufacturing process.
5. Technical drawings for manufacturing include bending axis locations and bending angles.

The methods to start Sheetmetal application in NX

1. When creating a new NX part file.
   1. Start the “New” file command. (Ctrl+N)
   2. Select “Sheet Metal” in the “templates” group in the dialog box.
   3. Type the file name and set the file location.
   4. Click “Ok” to create a new “Sheet Metal” model file.
2. After the model file is created you can revert the model file to a sheet metal file.
   1. Click on the “Sheet Metal” icon in the
      Application Ribbon Bar => Design Group => Sheet Metal
   2. Press (CTRL + Shift + M)