Autodesk Fusion for sheet metal design

There are a few ways to create sheet metal components in Autodesk Fusion. You can create a new sheet metal component using the sheet metal rule. The rule uses your settings for material thickness, bend radius, and corner relief. You can also create a sheet metal component from scratch. You use sketch commands to create a profile for a base face or an initial contour flange. Then you exit the sketch and create your sheet metal face and flanges. Default rule is used but you can change or edit used rule.

Autodesk Fusion includes direct editing and advanced surface modeling features designed to dramatically reduce the time typically necessary for high-volume design production. Validate 3D digital models as you design without needing a prototype. Stress-test and optimize in one integrated design environment. Plus, built-in sheet metal specific commands streamline work on both folded and unfolded models.

Autodesk Fusion streamlines the deformation-based sheet metal forming process. The software simplifies simulating sheet metal forming with easy setup of loading conditions, contact conditions, fixes and displacement boundary conditions, and non-linear material properties.

Files from other CAD systems can be imported for use in Autodesk Fusion and exported to other CAD system formats.

Autodesk Fusion simplifies calculating bend allowance and offers the flexibility to see bending results specific to the data you have. While the default K-Factor of 0.44 is automatically built into the software, you can access the integrated editor in Inventor to create and edit bend tables.

Bend allowance is the length of the neutral line or axis that lies between the bend lines, or essentially, it's the arc length of the bend. This measurement is used to calculate the length of the flat piece of sheet metal needed to achieve a bent part of a certain size.

When a piece of metal is bent, one half of the bend is compressed and the other half is stretched. The neutral line or axis is the area of the metal that does not change during the bending process. The length of the neutral axis is known as the bend allowance.

The bend allowance is calculated based on the degree of the bend, the thickness of the metal, and the bend radius. The bend allowance added to the sum of the two flange lengths equals the total flat length of the sheet metal.

Knowing the bend allowance is crucial to achieving accurate results in sheet metal fabrication. It's used to determine the flat pattern layout to ensure the final bent product is the correct size and shape.

A sheet metal bend calculator is a tool that helps you calculate important parameters required in the bending of sheet metal. The calculator uses these parameters to determine the flat length of the sheet metal before bending to achieve the desired final part dimensions. The user typically inputs the material type, bend angle, inside radius, and material thickness, and the calculator provides the bend allowance, bend deduction, and sometimes the K-factor.

These calculators are invaluable tools for engineers, fabricators, and designers working with sheet metal, allowing them to accurately predict the outcomes of their bends and make necessary adjustments to their designs.

The K-factor in sheet metal bending is a ratio that represents the location of the neutral axis with respect to the thickness of the material. The neutral axis is the part of the metal that is neither compressed nor stretched during bending.

When a flat sheet of metal is bent, one surface of the material is compressed while the opposite surface is stretched. The neutral axis lies between these two surfaces and remains unchanged in length during the bending process.

The K-factor is calculated using the formula: K-factor = t / T