**Newbie** Looking for sheet metal help

I am in the process of making a round Joiner, its is aluminum and its .018"
thick with a 0.5" over lap for spotwelding. I am wondering what is the best
way to design this, and how.

I see and example where a cylinder was made and some how they unfolded it to
a flatten state, "I have know Idea how it was done". Another example I see
was with a spiral and again I have now idea how they did.

Is there a book or web site out there that deals with the sheet metal aspect
of solidworks.

Thanks for the help, and I look forward to contributing to the forum

 

What version are you using? In SW2003, the help does contain some pretty
good examples. Go there and study a bit to understand some of the basics,
and then come back and ask questions.

Also, what's a joiner?

WT

 

Hello there Mike!

Welcome to the frustrating and also eventually rewarding world of
solidworks sheetmetal.

I made up a sample model which included a "how to" which shows how to
make an overlap which includes some holes and extrudes in the flat.
The sample model is a round "vented" tube, but the idea can be applied
to any shape that is "cylindrical" (a single vector extrude of a
polygon . . .)

http://www.sheetmetaldesign.com/Cad-SolidWorks/Example11-Overlap-Round.zip

I hope this helps.

Regards,

SMA