There are several ways to get started creating a sheetmetal part in Pro/ENGINEER. You can either design directly in the Sheetmetal application, or model your geometry in Pro/ENGINEER and then transfer the geometry to the Sheetmetal application.
Let’s follow this process by first modeling the general geometry, then selecting Sheetmetal under the Applications tab (see Figure 1).
Pro/ENGINEER will prompt you to shell the part by selecting the surfaces you wish to shell, followed by specifying a material thickness. Once you have done this, the part will exist in the Sheetmetal application and you will need to create a flat pattern of this part.
Since all edges are fully attached, appropriate edges will need to be ripped. By selecting the create conversion icon as shown in Figure 2, you can rip the two back edges needed to create a flat pattern and add a bend to the three front edges, if desired.
The part now requires two surface rips to remove material at the two front lower edges, as seen in Figure 3.
Next, you will be required to create a regular rip to break the remaining three front faces into individual sections. Refer to Figure 4 for applicable surfaces.
Upon completion of the above steps, this Sheetmetal part can now be flattened. Figure 5 represents this part in its flattened form.
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