Following a machining operation in or near a unfolded bend, you can fold the flat sheet metal part or flat section by restoring or redefining one bend at a time. You can either restore each bend based on its original properties, or you can specify new values for bends.
To restore a bend,
1. Click Sheet Metal and then, in the Modify Sheet group, click Fold/Unfold. The Fold/Unfold dialog box opens.
2. Click the unfolded bend you want to recreate. The original bend properties are now displayed in the Fold/Unfold dialog box.
3. Optionally, you can specify new values for the bend:
◦ To change the bend angle, click Angle and enter the new bend angle. Note that the maximum bend angle is 360 degrees.
For 360–degree bends, the sides must not touch.
◦ To change the bend process, select the required process from the option list next to Process.
◦ To change the inner radius of the bend (for cylindrical bends), click Inner Rad and select the appropriate radius from the radius table displayed for the current bend process.
Alternatively, you can enter a radius value manually. If this radius is not defined for the current bend process in the current TDB, Creo Elements/Direct Sheet Metal returns a DMF related message.
◦ To change the cone angle (for conical bends), click Cone Angle and specify the angle.
◦ You can produce the bend in the opposite direction by clicking Reverse.
Note that the bend length is not preserved when you fold a flat sheet. When you change the values of the bend, the bend length will change accordingly. For example, if you enter an inner radius that is much larger than the original inner radius, the resulting bend will be longer than the original bend.
4. Optionally, click Preview for a first visual impression of the folded bend.
5. Click to complete the fold operation or click Next to select another bend to be folded.
To refold all the previously-unfolded bends on sheet metal parts in a single operation,
1. Click Sheet Metal and then, in the Modify Sheet group, click Refold Parts. The Refold Parts dialog box opens.
2. Click the Parts or select the Base Faces of the parts whose bends you want to refold. You can now see visual feedback on the refolding operation in the viewport.
3. Click the Show Step check box to see the bends refold one by one. When the Show Step check box is cleared, you see only the refolded result without the intermediate steps.
Fold/Unfold. The Fold/Unfold dialog box opens.
to complete the fold operation or click Next to select another bend to be folded.
Refold Parts. The Refold Parts dialog box opens.