Sheet Metal & Press Brake plans Autodesk® Fusion® sheet-metal parts for the press brake. It reads Fusion's own flat pattern, finds a bend order and the punch and die for it, gives the back-gauge X, the handling and the checks for every hit with your own tooling, and writes one bend sheet for the operator. Forms, Tab and Slot joints and a punch-press plan for the formed blank are made in Fusion too.

More info: https://vanthanbk.com/company/sheet-metal-press-brake

Bend order, back gauge and handling:

Bend Sheet works on one part or on every sheet-metal part in the design. It suggests an order (outer flanges first, bends of the same direction together, short bends before long ones) that you change with Move up, Move down or Move to step; the plan is checked again at once. For every step it gives the back-gauge X, measured on the part as it is at that moment, from the edge or from a formed flange, and says whether to flip, turn or rotate the part. Turn front to back puts the other side of a bend to the gauge. Each step also gives the angle to set on the controller, the depth and the ram opening, and the bend sheet says about how long a part takes.

Pre-bends for hard parts:

A bend the tools would meet at its full angle, such as a short offset or a bead between two walls, is made in two hits: Add a pre-bend bends it to 45° (or the angle you type) while the part is still open, and a later step finishes it in the die, without the back gauge. The bend sheet marks the pre-bend and the step that finishes it.

Hems, joggles and large radii:

A hem is pre-bent to 150° and then flattened, also in one spring hemming die without a tool change; open hems are pressed to their gap and teardrops on their loop. An offset punch and die make a joggle in one stroke. A radius too large for the die is bump bent in small hits, made from the far end toward the back gauge so the sheet stays flat on the fingers. Bottoming and coining take their own force.

Collision checks in 2D and 3D:

Every step is swept through the stroke against the outlines of your punch, die, upper beam and back gauge, with the earlier bends formed: a flange that swings into the punch, a return over the end of the punch, a box wall that leaves the punch no room. Show the selected step in 3D draws the refolded part on the machine's table, die and fingers under the punch at any point of the stroke, with the contacts in red; Play all steps plays the whole plan, the part turned or flipped between steps, and Check all steps in 3D tests it with the real solids. A tool that only reaches into the sheet's skin is a warning that it may mark the part.

Auto tools + order:

One button tries the punches and dies of your library (only the ones you have, once you mark them), both back-gauge sides and other bend orders, and folds the plan it keeps in 3D. It keeps your pre-bends and the steps you mark Keep for Auto; when no plan clears every step, it sets the order that went furthest and marks the steps left for you.

Tooling, stations and bend rules:

The starter library holds 8 press brakes, 38 punches, 90 dies and 23 materials from published catalogues, every tool with its outline, and a catalogue of 1,440 more punches and dies and 419 press brakes to add by size, style or part number. In the Press Brake Library every machine value sits on a drawing of the press brake and every tool's sizes on its outline, each with what it is used for; draw your own punch or die in a sketch or a DXF and its outline fills in its sizes. Mark the tools you have, and each machine's lists and Auto use only those. Sectioned punches and dies are entered as the pieces you own, and each step gets its station, horns included. Apply Bend Rule sets the Fusion sheet-metal rule from your material, die and punch, so the flat pattern and its DXF match the brake; Calibrate from Test Bend measures the real bend deduction and K-factor from one test strip.

The bend sheet:

A PDF with the setup, a 3D picture of the part, the flat pattern with every bend named and the step that makes it, the bend table with back-gauge X, gauge and handling, the tools of every step, the checks and a side view of every step on the die; a bend-program CSV with the controller angle, depth and opening of every step, and a flat DXF with CUT, BEND, ETCH and NOTES layers.

Forms, Tab and Slot and the punch press:

Create Form places louvers, lances, dimples, emboss and deboss forms, bridges, knockouts, extruded holes, beads and gussets on the sheet, checked against the tool makers' published limits as you edit them. Tab and Slot adds locating tabs and slots where two walls meet at 90°. Manufacturing Export writes the Punch Map CSV, a punch-press shop plan checked hit by hit, the native flat DXF and the punch and die of the forms as STEP solids.