Multi Unfold

Description: 15 minutes

Note  The Sheet Metal module requires a license.

Create all necessary production documents with just three clicks.

Often you need to produce multiple documents to meet the needs of different sheet metal production processes.  For example,

In addition to the machine readable data, you may wish to have human readable documents that include

You may want

 

In the past, the generation of production ready documents from sheet metal parts was a multi-step, time-consuming task.  Now, you can customize the Multi Unfold command to create automatically the entire set of needed documents and, if necessary, check them into the selected database—and you may preview the documents before finalization.

In order to make maximum use of this new capability, you will need to take advantage of the many new customizable options in the sheet metal shop file.  See the sheet metal customization help for a complete description of all the options.

Here's what you can do with just three clicks

  1. Click Multi Unfold from the Sheet Metal Post Process menu to display the Multi Unfold dialog:

  1. Click the face that you want to be the Base Face.

  2. Click .

In seconds, OSDM produces the set of documents that are specified in your shop file and executes other specified post-processing.  (See the help customization document, Sheet Metal Multi Unfold Customizationunder Modules - Sheet Metal - Sheet Metal Customizationfor details on customizing post-processing in the shop file, sha_demoshop.lsp.)

You may choose temporary parameters for your output to override those in the shop file. Some will be familiar from the Unfold command, while others are new for Multi Unfold. Use these parameters to test different options, then update your shop file with the appropriate customization to make the option permanent.  

Once you have specified the Base Face, you may alter the default processes by clicking on Shop Settings:

 

Here, you can specify a different shop and/or various processes.

Note  For each process activated, a workplane with the corresponding flat geometry will be created and displayed.

In the event you wish to alter additional settings, click Interactive:

Here, you may specify Bends - Allowance, (as in the Unfold command);

Sharp Bend - Radius, (as in the Unfold command);

Info Contents – Drawing, (here you also specify whether to run replacement macros by checking Run Replacements—see the section, Automatic Feature Replacement in Flats, in the chapter, Controlling Information Output to the Flat, in the sheet metal customization guide for more information about replacement macros);

Info Contents – Environment,
(the system displays the part information it has identified automatically);

Output Formats – Draw File Form,
(for each part, the system generates uniquely named folders in a TEMP directory, like D:\TEMP\2pqdv3e1495jhtt, in which it saves
output files for the part);

and Output Formats – Docu File Form.

Notes

Click the checkboxes in the lower part of the Output to menu to choose

Click Postprocess to choose and execute any additional postprocessing. 

Finally, click Preview to show flat drawings on a workplane,

Show Docu to create and show the html documentation in a popup browser, or  to complete the operation.  The illustration shows a report in html format: