Sheetmetal cone made from segmented bends instead of “rolled”

[BJP]

Is there a quick and dirty way to create a cone in sheetmetal that consists of multiple bends (also called a frutstum)? My supplier of sheetmetal parts does not support rolling sheetmetal but bending is no problem. I cant find it which to me seems strange as this would be a simple but effective function?!

[KenFarley]

If I had to model something like this I would probably start with just making a model of the idealized cone first, then Operations -> Convert to Sheetmetal.

You've got to talk to your supplier and figure out what they're comfortable with as far as the number of bends in the cone. I.e. is an octagonal shape okay, or do you need 12 sides, etc.

[StevenDumon]

This question is still very actual. Our shop also manufactures such parts and new bending software also requires the parts to be modeled as multiple bends and not rolled. We modified our models to actually match the manufactured parts, and show the bends in models and on drawings.

The biggest issue with this method is that it takes much effort to e.g. modify a part with a different number of segments.

[Pettersson]

How about a Blend and a Surface Rip? Maybe fix the gap with an Extend feature or two. Five minutes to make a bent cone with any amount of bends that's available in the Sketcher Palette. The one below using an octagon.

[StevenDumon]

Hi,

That's how our template parts look like, but when we copy to an actual project, and the 'diameter' increases so the number of bend needs to be increased as well, the sketches require some delicate touches in order to adjust.

[tbraxton]

Write relations that define the number of bends (sketch segments?) as a function of the diameter(s) of the "cone". I would build this generic model as a part (not sheet metal) and get it working you can then convert it to sheet metal as required for new designs.

You can build this such that the user would edit the diameter and the # of bends would be calculated and update the model accordingly.