Relief Cuts In Sheet Metal

Options in basic sheet metal base flange tab.

Relief cuts in sheet metal.

Sheet metal parts may have sharp corners but designing a fillet of the material s thickness will make parts more cost effective. For example if you make a partial flange as above using all the defaults the software makes relief cuts at the end of the bends as shown to the right. One benefit of a bend relief is that it makes the part easier to produce. Sheet metal parts with a minimum of 0 9mm to 20mm in thickness can be manufactured.

Relief cuts help parts avoid overhangs and tearing at bends. Right click the sheet metal feature in the featuremanager design tree and select edit feature. In general a minimum bend relief is equal to the material thickness plus the inside bend radius. In the propertymanager under auto relief change the type of relief cut.

If you select rectangular or obround specify the relief ratio. Bends in sheet metal are manufactured using sheet metal brakes. Not shown scroll down in property manager is an auto relief setting that controls how corners and relief cuts are handled. This same tool can be used to make a flat piece of sheet metal that one would use to add edge flanges and other useful sheet metal features.

To eliminate this a bend relief is added so the edge of the sheet metal is perpendicular to the bend. If it is ok for the metal to rip the minimum bend relief is zero. A 1 degree tolerance on all bend angles.