CAD Forum

Hi Guys,
I hope someone can get me pointed in the right direction. I have spent 2 days on the youtube videos and other training material to replicate what I am doing in sketchup and QCAD at the moment. I can do machine drawing etc etc however I am unable to draw the things I normally draw when using my CCN Plasma.

I usually draw flat parts, cut them on the cnc from 5mm steel sheet, and then weld \ bolt these together. This is almost sheetmetal work but I cant bend the sheet so every bend is a welding joint for me.
So the challengis that I always draw the model twice, once in 3d and then every side\part in qcad to be able to cut on the CNC machine.

Is there anybody that would be willing to just help me get started, what would work best, sheetmetal drawing or a normal part\assembly drawing.

These are typically the models I draw, and the material I use is normally 5mm sheet metal, some angle iron, channel iron and round bar.
Thanks for allowing me to bug you guys.

I am not certain of what you are asking for assistance with. From your comments and photos, I can only discern that you're looking to redesign your work to make them more cost-effective to include sheet metal bending, but you've also mentioned that you don't have access to any sheet metal bending processes.

If you'd be able to add sheet metal bending to your designs you definitely save time and money by eliminating a good amount of welding (seam, plug...) and the grinding and the buffing that goes along with it. Also, bending would most probably increase the structural integrity of your components.

Hi Samspade,
Thanks for the reply, what I am trying to do is to draw these sketches in solid edge, at the moment I am unable to draw them in solid edge, yes total noob, I have drawn these in sketchup, but then I have to go and draw these again in 2D to cut on the plasma cutter, that is where I want to save some time.
I am looking for some guidance on where to start, should I use sheetmetal or just iso part to draw these. basically I would like to understand how someone whould draw these types of sketches in solidedge.

@Youhan It looks like you have assemblies of individual components. If it is brake formed sheet metal, model each part in the Sheet Metal file, otherwise if it is a simple extrusion then use Part. then assemble them in Assembly. You can also create and edit both Shaet Metal and Parts from within the Assembly file also using Create/Edit In Place.

Youhan wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 9:31 am Hi Samspade,
Thanks for the reply, what I am trying to do is to draw these sketches in solid edge, at the moment I am unable to draw them in solid edge, yes total noob, I have drawn these in sketchup, but then I have to go and draw these again in 2D to cut on the plasma cutter, that is where I want to save some time.
I am looking for some guidance on where to start, should I use sheetmetal or just iso part to draw these. basically I would like to understand how someone whould draw these types of sketches in solidedge.

Oh, ok. Since the material thickness is considered to be sheet metal (5mm), I would prefer to draw them in sheet metal form, but as @Kenny G has stated you can simply extrude edges. Sorry, I'm not versed in Solid Edge, I could have probably given you some guidance if it were SolidWorks. Good luck and happy drawing.

In the long run, you will probably want these to be sheet metal parts. But given you are starting at ground zero I would start with simple extrudes. Once you understand that, you can look at making the parts out of sheet metal.

Thanks Guys, I dont speak solid edge either ha ha just dipped my toes in it 3 days ago.
I dont have a bender so all these "parts" are cut from a sheet and every "bend" will be welded, so in the end I need a drawing of each "face" in 2D so I can cut them on the CNC Plasma Table.

I saw a video of a guy drawing a simple cabinet, unfortunately this was in solid works so there is one step I am unable to replicate because I dont really speak 3D or solid Edge........... yet

So the basic steps were:
1- create the sketch
2 - Extrude from the base
3- then apply the shell command to the lid, which created the 5mm wall thickness sides. ( how ever this box is still a solid then )
4-then he applies the split command on the different "faces" which then turn them in to separate parts and he creates a cut list etc. (This is the part I am unable to get right. I am not sure which "split" command or what it is called in solid edge to use and how to get the same result to create a separate part for each face.
If you guys can help me there that would be great thanks., here is the video I am referring too.

SPerman wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 11:01 am In the long run, you will probably want these to be sheet metal parts. But given you are starting at ground zero I would start with simple extrudes. Once you understand that, you can look at making the parts out of sheet metal.

I am sure I will get there but I must be honest this is a completely new way of thinking and it is quite tough to learn all these new tricks ha ha.

There are different design philosophies for these types of parts. For me, there is 1 file per part. If you take 2 parts and weld them together, that is done at the assembly level. If you approach it that way, you don't have to learn any advanced features. You just extrude a bunch of flat plates and then join them at the assembly level.

I didn't make it very far in my SE training before other things came up, but there is Siemens provides some good (free) training. The host of this forum also has some good SE learning resources.

Search for "Siemens Xcelerator Academy." I remember it being a real PITA to find the right web site, but it is out there, and free if you signed up for the "Community Edition."

Here is the link to Matt's videos"

Thank you Sir I will go and try this out

Hi Guys,

I don't know about sketchup sheet metal.
Exemplary subject.
https://forums.sketchup.com/t/folding-s ... l/136946/4

How am I doing?
I draw 3d with SW and convert it to dxf, if I need to make changes to the flattened view, I make edits with autocad and convert it back to dxf.
I use these drawings on punch press and laser cutting machine.

Omur, the way you are doing it in SW is how I want to do in SE but I battle because I am so new to the 3D way of design. Unfortunately SW is just way to expensive for a hobbiest in South Africa.

I will labour through and get it right soon
Thank goodness there are people like on this forum willing to help

Is there anybody that can help me perform the tasks in this video in solidedge ?
I am not able to get this right

You can do this roughly the same way using Solid Edge's Split command, but you will need to create surfaces from the inside faces and extend them to or beyond the outside faces to use as the Split "tool" prior to using Split. Then after you have Split it into multiple bodies, you can use the Multi-Body Publish command to push them out to individual part files and an assembly.

Alternatively, you can use an assembly file and the Create In Place command to model each component individually but in the context of the assembly either as individual part files or internal components.

KennyG wrote: ↑Tue May 17, 2022 11:47 am You can do this roughly the same way using Solid Edge's Split command, but you will need to create surfaces from the inside faces and extend them to or beyond the outside faces to use as the Split "tool" prior to using Split. Then after you have Split it into multiple bodies, you can use the Multi-Body Publish command to push them out to individual part files and an assembly.

Alternatively, you can use an assembly file and the Create In Place command to model each component individually but in the context of the assembly either as individual part files or internal components.

Thank you Sir, I am going to try this, much appreciated

SPerman wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 4:19 pm I didn't make it very far in my SE training before other things came up, but there is Siemens provides some good (free) training. The host of this forum also has some good SE learning resources.

Search for "Siemens Xcelerator Academy." I remember it being a real PITA to find the right web site, but it is out there, and free if you signed up for the "Community Edition."

Here is a link to that training https://training.plm.automation.siemens.com/index.cfm