Cable Tray: One Cut Through Every Wall

Q: You sketch 8 circles on XZ and Extrude them Through All, both ways. How many holes does the tray get?

16: each circle goes through both walls. Through All cuts every bit of sheet in the circle's path: the front wall and the back wall. 8 circles, 16 holes.

Q: Do you have to unfold the tray to cut these holes?

No: a cut straight through a flat wall works on the folded part. A cut square through a flat wall is the same folded or flat, so you can cut the folded part. Unfold only for a cut that must cross a bend.

Q: Why do the splice holes skip the perforations' rows?

Perforate keeps its margin clear of cut-outs. Perforate leaves its margin around edges, bends and cut-outs, so no perforation runs into a splice hole.

In 6 minutes you'll fold a perforated cable tray with stepped walls, then cut its splice holes through both walls at once with one sketch and one Extrude, with no unfolding.

Lesson: Sheet 03 of 05
Part: Cut Through Folded Walls
Rule: Galvanised 1mm
Sheet: t 1 · R 1 · K 0.4
Time: 6 min
Status: Open

Watch

Video in productionBuild along with the steps below meanwhile.

Turn the part

Drag to turn, scroll or pinch to zoom. Flat shows the blank before it is bent: the same sheet, the same frame.

Build it in SolidCraft

Your task

Build this perforated cable tray from the drawing. Lengths of it bolt together end to end through the splice holes.

The rule from the drawing's notes, then the floor: its rectangle on XY at the origin, and Flange.
The walls, from what you know: a Path flange on each long edge, its path drawn on the YZ plane from the edge: up, out, up, back in.
New this time: the splice holes go through both walls, so cut them in one go. A sketch on the XZ plane with the eight circles from the drawing, then Extrude: Cut, Through All, both directions. No need to unfold: each hole goes straight through a flat wall.
Perforate the floor with the drawing's holes.
Flat Pattern: read the Flat size, count the cut-outs, and read the perforation count.

What to write down

Box 1: The Flat size across the bends (the second number).
Box 2: The number of holes cut in the flat, not counting perforations.
Box 3: The number of perforations.

Type them below and press Check.

Check your numbers

Enter what SolidCraft shows you. Each value is checked against SolidCraft's own result, within the tolerance shown. Nothing you type leaves this page.

Box 1Flat size, the side across the bends ± 0.05 mm mm

Box 2Cut-outs in the flat (holes, not perforations) exact

Box 3Perforations in the floor exact

Stuck? Compare with the finished part

Download the finished part

Open it in SolidCraft (File › Open) next to yours and compare the timeline, the rule and each feature's sizes: the first one that differs is where yours went wrong.

exercise · Galvanised 1mm · t 1 · R 1 · K 0.4 · all dimensions in mm, from the blank's left and bottom edges

Flat blank 400.000 × 235.593 mm · 8 bends

Perforation: 206 holes Ø7 mm, square, pitch 14 mm.

Bend	Angle	Dir.	R mm	Length mm	Allowance mm
1	90°	up	1	400	2.199
2	90°	down	1	400	2.199
3	90°	up	1	400	2.199
4	90°	up	1	400	2.199
5	90°	up	1	400	2.199
6	90°	down	1	400	2.199
7	90°	up	1	400	2.199
8	90°	up	1	400	2.199

exercise-uncut · Galvanised 1mm · t 1 · R 1 · K 0.4 · all dimensions in mm, from the blank's left and bottom edges

Flat blank 400.000 × 235.593 mm · 8 bends

Perforation: 216 holes Ø7 mm, square, pitch 14 mm.

Bend	Angle	Dir.	R mm	Length mm	Allowance mm
1	90°	up	1	400	2.199
2	90°	down	1	400	2.199
3	90°	up	1	400	2.199
4	90°	up	1	400	2.199
5	90°	up	1	400	2.199
6	90°	down	1	400	2.199
7	90°	up	1	400	2.199
8	90°	up	1	400	2.199

Quiz

Q1You sketch 8 circles on XZ and Extrude them Through All, both ways. How many holes does the tray get?

Q2Do you have to unfold the tray to cut these holes?

Q3Why do the splice holes skip the perforations' rows?