Sheet 09 of 12

Convert to Sheet Metal: Turn a Box Into a Tray

Q: In Convert to Sheet Metal, what is the Fixed Face?

The face that stays put; the sheet grows from it across the bend edges. The flat faces reached from the Fixed Face across the Bend Edges become the sheet.

Q: You convert a solid (not shelled) box. Where does the sheet's thickness come from?

From the rule, taken inward from the faces. The solid's faces become the outside of the sheet, and the rule's thickness goes into the body.

Q: After converting, the flat pattern shows only 3 bends instead of 4. Why?

One Bend Edge was not picked, so that wall was left out. Only the faces reached across picked edges become sheet. Edit the feature and pick the missing edge.

In 5 minutes you'll turn a shelled box into a sheet metal tray, and a plain solid box into a cover, each with a flat pattern ready to cut.

Part: Convert to Sheet Metal
Rule: Steel 2mm
Sheet: t 2 · R 2 · K 0.4
Time: 5 min
Status: Open

OP 10Watch
OP 20Turn the part
OP 30Build
OP 40Inspect
OP 50Quiz

OP 10Watch

Video in productionBuild along with the steps in OP 30 meanwhile.

Chapters

00:00Start from a solid
00:30Box and Shell
01:20Convert: fixed face and bend edges
02:20The flat pattern
03:00A cover from a solid box
03:50Common mistake
04:20Your exercise

OP 20Turn the part

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

OP 30Build it in SolidCraft

Your task

Turn a box into sheet metal twice in SolidCraft 0.22. First a tray:

Use the rule Steel 2mm: thickness 2 mm, bend radius 2 mm, K-factor 0.4, active.
Box: length 120 mm, width 80 mm, height 30 mm, at the origin.
Shell it: remove the top face, thickness 2 mm.
Convert to Sheet Metal: Fixed Face the floor, Bend Edges the four edges where the floor meets the walls, rule Steel 2mm.
Click Flat Pattern (Sheet Metal tab › Flat) and write down the flat size and the number of bends.
Right-click the body Tray in the browser › Physical Material, set Material to Steel, OK. Right-click the top row of the browser (the whole design) › Properties and write down Mass.
Now a cover: in a new design, make the rule Steel 2mm again (a new design has its own rules), then a Box of the same size, with no Shell.
Convert to Sheet Metal: Fixed Face the top face, Bend Edges the four top edges.
Click Flat Pattern and write down the flat size.

What to write down

The tray's flat size: both numbers of the Flat size row.
The tray's number of bends (the Bends row).
The tray's mass in Steel, in grams (type the number only).
The cover's flat size, long side.

Type them below and press Check. The solution's bend table may say "down" for one part and "up" for the other: that only depends on which side of the sheet you picked the Fixed Face on.

OP 40Inspect

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

Tray: flat size, long side ± 0.05 mm mm

Tray: flat size, short side ± 0.05 mm mm

Tray: number of bends exact

Cover from the solid box: flat size, long side ± 0.05 mm mm

Tray: mass ± 0.5 g g

Show the drawing and bend table

exercise · Steel 2mm · t 2 · R 2 · K 0.4 · all dimensions in mm, from the blank's left and bottom edges

Flat blank 172.797 × 132.797 mm · 4 bends

Bend	Angle	Dir.	R mm	Length mm	Allowance mm
1	90°	down	2	112	4.398
2	90°	down	2	72	4.398
3	90°	down	2	112	4.398
4	90°	down	2	72	4.398

exercise.solidcraft exercise.json

exercise-solid · Steel 2mm · t 2 · R 2 · K 0.4 · all dimensions in mm, from the blank's left and bottom edges

Flat blank 172.797 × 132.797 mm · 4 bends

Bend	Angle	Dir.	R mm	Length mm	Allowance mm
1	90°	up	2	112	4.398
2	90°	up	2	72	4.398
3	90°	up	2	112	4.398
4	90°	up	2	72	4.398

exercise-solid.solidcraft exercise-solid.json

OP 50Quiz

Q1In Convert to Sheet Metal, what is the Fixed Face?

Q2You convert a solid (not shelled) box. Where does the sheet's thickness come from?

Q3After converting, the flat pattern shows only 3 bends instead of 4. Why?