The Fold/Unfold functionality enables you to produce a flat blank of any part that includes cylindrical and conical bends, and to fold any planar part that includes planar bend areas with orthogonal side faces. This functionality facilitates the design of multiple-bend parts such as sheet metal parts made by progressive die operations.
With Fold/Unfold you can:
• Unfold any part that has cylindrical or conical bends.
• Handle holes in bend areas.
• Fold up a corner of a sheet.
By unfolding one bend of a sheet metal part at a time, you can produce a flat area or flat blank for further machining operations. This unfold functionality enables you to perform machining operations that are required prior to bending.
The Fold/Unfold functionality enables you to fold any Creo Elements/Direct Modeling part that is of uniform thickness. The fold operation requires a planar bend area whose side faces are perpendicular to the top and bottom faces of the bend area.
Examples
The following figure shows some examples of planar geometries that can be folded. In each of these examples, 1 is the top face of the bend area and 2 is a side face of the bend area.
To fold a part,
1. Activate Basic Sheets module.
a. Click File > Modules. The Modules dialog box opens.
b. On the Modules pane, click Basic Sheets (under Free). The Sheets tab opens on the ribbon.
2. Click Sheets and then, in the Modify Sheet group, click Fold/Unfold. The Fold/Unfold dialog box opens.
3. Click the face where you want to fold the part.
4. Click the anchor face for this bend. The anchor face is the face that will retain its position when the bend is folded.
5. Specify either:
◦ Angle: the bend angle, or
◦ Inner Rad: the inner bend radius for cylindrical bends or the Cone Angle for conical bends.
The other of these two parameters will be set automatically to preserve the length of the bend along the neutral phase (neutral fiber).
For example, if you change the bend angle, and the K factor remains the same, the inner bend radius will automatically be adjusted to preserve the length of the bend along the neutral phase (neutral fiber). Similarly, for conical bends, if you change the bend angle, the cone angle is automatically adjusted, and vice-versa.
Note that the maximum bend angle is 360 degrees.
6. If necessary, change the K Factor. If you do this, the inner bend radius will automatically be adjusted to preserve the length of the bend along the neutral phase (neutral fiber) for cylindrical bends. Note that the bend angle will be retained.
7. Click Reverse to reverse the direction of the bend.
8. Optionally, click Preview for a first visual impression of the recreated bend.
9. Click to complete the fold operation, or click Next to fold the selected bend and to select another bend to be folded.
To unfold a part,
1. Activate Basic Sheets module.
2. Click Sheets and then, in the Modify Sheet group, click Fold/Unfold. The Fold/Unfold dialog box opens.
3. Click the Bend you want to unfold.
4. Click the Base Face face for this bend. The base face is the face that will retain its position when the bend is unfolded.
5. If necessary, specify a different K Factor to that selected automatically by Creo Elements/Direct Modeling.
6. Optionally, click Preview for a first visual impression of the partial flat.
7. Click to complete the unfold operation, or click Next to unfold the selected bend and to select another bend to be unfolded.
The length of any partial flat produced in this way is governed by the K factor.
Creo Elements/Direct Sheet Metal can handle parts that you folded in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling. However, you need to attach a material attribute to such parts. Also, note that the bends produced in Creo Elements/Direct Modeling are arbitrary and are not based on the Creo Elements/Direct Sheet Metal Technology Database. If you want to attach DMF (Design for Manufacturability) related information to these bends, you can attach a bend attribute in Creo Elements/Direct Sheet Metal, or you can unfold them and then refold them in Creo Elements/Direct Sheet Metal.
Fold/Unfold restriction
The unfolded blank will retain its dimensions if you change the inner bend radius or bend angle. If you change the inner radius, the bend angle will automatically be adjusted (and vice versa) to preserve the length of the flat blank. If you want to change the dimensions of the bend area, use the Creo Elements/Direct Sheet Metal Fold/Unfold functionality.
A conical unfolded and refolded bend is not recognized as a variable radius blend.
Fold/Unfold. The Fold/Unfold dialog box opens.
to complete the fold operation, or click Next to fold the selected bend and to select another bend to be folded.