pic: How It's Made: 148 & 217 Robots

[s_forbes]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

John- would it be possible for you to put on a presentation in Atlanta this year, or even a powerpoint presentation up here on CD, detailing your design process in Sheetmetal in Solidworks? This question is also directed to others who use sheet metal fabrication such as 217, 228, 1771, 1477, 1902 and any others I don't know of.

I've been learning the features in SW but I don't know what works or what doesn't in my designs when, hypothetically, I would try to get them manufactured at a fabrication site. Are there limitations using sheet metal during fabrication? What are the advantages? (other than speed of fabrication, weight, duplicates)

Great video, great insight into your process. Thanks to those who can help answer some of my questions.

I'd also love to hear more about some of the details that need to be considered when dealing with sheet metal design. One of the things I find most perplexing is the tolerances involved with these kind of parts... Some things I've read online mention that large sheet stock (like 4'x8') can vary in thickness as much as .005" (thicker in the middle).

Separately, how tight of tolerances can the machines hold? For example, when bending a c-channel out of 0.125 thick sheet, how much does the outside flange to flange distance vary?

It seems like getting rivet holes to line up would be a nightmare.