Alibre Stamped Sheet Metal Parts

[HaroldL]

In this video I show how to create stamped sheet metal parts. As always any questions or comments are welcome.

 

[gwbruce]

Great video Harold. I definetly learned a few things watching this one. Thanks.

 

[HaroldL]

Thanks, glad it helps. I'm just trying to pass along some of the stuff I learned with SolidWorks and applied to Alibre with a different workflow.

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

I know there's probably a master's course for designing them, but out of curiosity if you have examples of the dies I'd like to see them.

 

[HaroldL]

Back in the day when I was running a press brake I used to form these latches on V-dies. and they looked like junk, especially the 120 degree form on the tongue. But that's the process I inherited. I had a conversation with the machinist in our machine shop and he designed a set of dies to form them in one step and produced a much more consistent part. It's been a long time since I ran a press brake or used the dies but I could probably model something up from memory. Give me a few days and I'll see how good my memory is.

We actually had several latches that had different offsets but were made from the same blank. So if the offset changed the length of the tongue would also change. The only way to change the offset and keep the tongue the same length would be to run strips of material through a set of progressive dies that make allowance for an offset change and a constant tongue length.

 

[SergioP.]

Is there a way to model the surfaces directly and then apply the thickness operation? That´s the way that I did for this kind of parts with other CADs

 

[HaroldL]

The short answer is No. Alibre does not have a full set of tools to create just surfaces without creating a solid first.

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help.alibre.com

 

[SergioP.]

The short answer is No. Alibre does not have a full set of tools to create just surfaces without creating a solid first.

Articles

help.alibre.com

Thanks!

 

[HaroldL]

I know there's probably a master's course for designing them, but out of curiosity if you have examples of the dies I'd like to see them.

Here are some screen shots of what I modeled up as close as I can remember what the dies looked like. This was designed to be installed in a press brake.
The punch assembly had a plate that could be removed and installed in the die to form a latch with a smaller offset. The die was sized so the blank just fit inside. That way it wouldn't move around when the punch entered the die and started forming the latch.

 

[Cator]

Harold,
a similar piece is used following the same concept also on accordions....even if here it works as a fulcrum for the curl of a holding spring. Congratulations for this and all the videos you share with us!

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

Thanks @HaroldL That happily completes the process in my mind.

 

[Ex Machina]

Here are some screen shots of what I modeled up as close as I can remember what the dies looked like. This was designed to be installed in a press brake.
The punch assembly had a plate that could be removed and installed in the die to form a latch with a smaller offset. The die was sized so the blank just fit inside. That way it wouldn't move around when the punch entered the die and started forming the latch.
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Wow man! Just W O W !!! Immensely cool!