Sheet 10 of 12
Perforate: Fill a Sheet with a Pattern of Holes
In 5 minutes you'll fill a vent cover with a pattern of round holes using Perforate, and see where SolidCraft 0.22 puts them: in the flat pattern and the DXF for the laser.
- Part
- Perforate
- Rule
- Steel 1mm
- Sheet
- t 1 · R 1 · K 0.4
- Time
- 5 min
- Status
- Open
OP 10Watch
Video in productionBuild along with the steps in OP 30 meanwhile.
Chapters
- 00:00What Perforate does
- 00:30The vent cover
- 01:10Run Perforate from the search
- 02:00Where are the holes? The flat pattern
- 03:00Margin, pitch and pattern
- 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.
The model shows part A, for illustration. Your part has its own sizes: build it from the drawing in OP 30.
OP 30Build it in SolidCraft
Part A of 8. Every learner gets a part with its own sizes, so the values you check below are yours to find.
A new part has new sizes. It clears this sheet's checks and ticked steps; your quiz answers stay.
The picture shows part A, for illustration. Build your part from the drawing and the sizes listed here.
- Rule
- Steel 1mm
- Thickness
- 1 mm
- Bend radius
- 1 mm
- K-factor
- 0.4
As typed in this exercise
- Sketch Base on XY: rectangle (0, 0) to (120, 80)
- Flange: height 12
- Perforate: diameter 5 mm, pitch 8 mm
Your task
Make this vent cover in SolidCraft 0.22:
- Make the rule Steel 1mm: thickness 1 mm, bend radius 1 mm, K-factor 0.4, active.
- Sketch a 120 × 80 mm rectangle on XY, corner at the origin, and finish the sketch.
- Flange on the sketch to make the base.
- Flange on both long edges at once: height 12 mm, angle 90°.
- Press S and run
sheet.perforate {"diameter": "5 mm", "pitch": "8 mm"}(press Enter). - Open Flat Pattern (Sheet Metal tab › Flat) and write down the flat size and the number of bends. The holes show in the Flat Pattern, not on the 3D part.
- Press Export DXF… in the Flat Pattern and save the file: the holes are on the layer PERFORATION.
What to write down
- The flat length across the two bends (the Flat size row; the other side is 120 mm).
- The number of bends (the Bends row).
Type them below and press Check. Then try it yourself: double-click Perforate1 in the timeline, put "pattern": "square" inside the set braces, press Enter and open the Flat Pattern again. The holes line up in a square grid, and the flat size stays the same.
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.
Show the drawing and bend table
exercise · Steel 1mm · t 1 · R 1 · K 0.4 · all dimensions in mm, from the blank's left and bottom edgesFlat blank 120.000 × 100.398 mm · 2 bends
Perforation: 122 holes Ø5 mm, staggered, pitch 8 mm.
| Bend | Angle | Dir. | R mm | Length mm | Allowance mm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 90° | up | 1 | 120 | 2.199 |
| 2 | 90° | up | 1 | 120 | 2.199 |
OP 50Quiz
Q1In SolidCraft 0.22, how do you run Perforate with your own hole size?
Perforate has no dialog yet in 0.22, so you type sheet.perforate with diameter and pitch in the command search and press Enter.
Q2What does the margin do?
The margin is the clear distance from the sheet's edges, cut-outs and bends; by default it equals the hole diameter.
Q3Where can you see the perforation holes in SolidCraft 0.22?
In 0.22 the holes are not cut into the 3D part; the Flat Pattern view draws them and the DXF has them on their own layer, PERFORATION.
Every value is within tolerance. This sheet is done.
Sheet 11: Flat Pattern, Bend Table, DXF