stamped sheetmetal - how to create

[mariano]

I am trying to draw a heatsink made out of stamped sheet metal. The fins are stamped and bent out as shown in the picture.


One way I could do this is create a bend, then unbend, then cut (narrow rectangle) between the finsand then bend back. The problem is that I have around 200 fins. I haven't seen any way of creating a pattern of this. Also I wanted to use "Rip" instead of cut because it should be a zero width cut. However, Rip does not support multiple rips in a single operation.


Any suggestions on how can this be drawn? Thanks !!


View attachment 3625

 

[prasath21]

Hi,


Have you tried using Form feature and pattern it.
Edited by: prasath21

 

[zeta]

I think you can model the heat sink at this way:

1) create the first wall

2) sheet metat cut ONE slot only

3) on the slot, create flange

4) pattern the cut feature, then pattern the flange



see photos


2007-05-17_102238_many_flanges.zip



This method can create many, many flanges by pattern feature, but I
think the difficult part is the flange height, it's hard to predict it.



I usually unbend it to check the material for stamping, set this material shorter than a whole sheet little bit.

 

[mariano]

Zeta, that looks really good. As you point out, the only problem is to calculate the right length of the flange.


This is the way I did it:


- bend twice, unbend all
- thin cut once, pattern
- bend back, selecting the proper fins to be bent


The thing I hate from this is that the thin cut is not a shear cut and it shows up as a narrow cut in the metal. The good thing is that I build this out of bends so I don't have to worry about lenghts.


2007-05-17_142127_main_hs_sm.ZIP