Sheet Metal Design And Manufacturing With Solid Works

Solid Works software has been designed to assist manufacturers with the design of sheet metal parts that can be easily manufactured. Most commonly used to close the gap between designers and manufacturers the Solid Works design program helps keep prices low, while increasing production times. The software makes it possible for engineers and designers to create three dimensional models which can be used by manufacturers to bring the designer's vision to life.

One of the things that the Solid Works software enables designers and fabricators to do is to determine, for the purposes of their project, what exactly they mean by sheet metal. This is done by inputting details such as the thickness of the metal. This allows engineers to design sheet metal parts virtually before bends are made, and to determine whether particular cuts and folds are indeed practical to produce. Additionally, parts can be labeled and named in order to avoid confusion about which parts to fabricate. This will also help the manufacturing process because every component will be properly marked as to their purpose and where they fit in the overall design.

Solid Works design software further allows engineers to design of multiple or layered extrusions, add form radius and other features after the panels have been fitted together in the CAD design model. This helps both the designer and fabricator to align perforations, tabs, and various attributes that need to be lined up on a number of complicated sheet metal panels.

The Solid Works computer design package enables the design and fabrication of very complicated features. The designer can test tolerances and clearances during the design phase to ensure that the product can be easily assembled. Using this software you can build designs using small spaces between the panels so as to allow the software to unfold the model. This allows design features to stand out, so that they will be seen distinctly. This feature will be extremely useful when panels that will fit together very closely in the finished product and need to be seen as individual components by the fabricator in order to construct them correctly.

The most useful aspect of the Solid Works metal design program is that it will allow manufacturers to alter the design when needed. It can help designers to consider the impact the design changes may have on the overall design that might not be obvious to the naked eye. The clear benefit to this is that any design flaws are caught before the manufacturing process begins, likely saving you a lot of wasted time and money.

Engineers find that they are able to move a product from conception and modeling through to a workable design more easily when they use Solid Works and sheet metal. If the designer's plan is clearly shown and easy to interpret, manufacturers are able to create components that will fit and perform exactly as the designer intended, leading to a more efficient production process. Efficient production leads to shorter production times, less material being wasted, lower costs, and therefore a higher profit margin.

By: Maarc Anderes

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Marc Anderes is the VP of Operations of Maloya Laser which specializes in Laser Cutting and Metal Manufacturing with advanced laser systems, for medical, aerospace, scientific and transportation requirements.