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The Sheet Metal tools are all located in the Sheet Metal menu and the Sheet Metal toolbar that appear when you load the SheetMetal Workbench.

• Add base shape: Adds a basic sheet metal object from parameters.

• New Sketch: Creates a new sketch without switching workbenches (introduced in version 0.7.61). It invokes either the Sketcher NewSketch tool, or the PartDesign NewSketch tool if a PartDesign Body is active.

• Make Base Wall: Creates a sheet metal base object from a sketch, either a profile or a plate.

• Convert to Sheet Metal: Converts a solid or shell to a sheet metal object (introduced in version 0.8.0).

• Make Wall: Adds a flange on each selected edge of a base plate. (The flange can be turned into a hem by modifying its angle.)

• Make Hem: Adds a hem on each selected edge of a base plate. (Similar to the above tool but with settings optimized for hem creation. - introduced in version 0.8.10)

• Extend Face: Extends a sheet metal plate at a selected edge face along its normal.

• Extend by Sketch: Extends a sheet metal plate at a selected edge face by adding an outline sketch. It can be used to create interlocking geometry. (This was split from the above tool and is available in version 0.7.57 and newer)

• Fold a Wall: Folds a face at a chosen line with a specified bend radius.

• Unfold: Flattens a folded sheet metal object and generates an unfold solid and an outline sketch with bend lines (provides a dialog to set parameters).

• Unattended Unfold: Flattens a folded sheet metal object and generates an unfold solid and an outline sketch with bend lines (if parameters have already been set).

• Unfold Update: Updates all unfold objects.

• Add Corner Relief: Adds a corner relief to a corner.

• Make Relief: 1st step to convert a shell object into an unfoldable sheet metal object, adds a relief (cutout) to a corner.

• Make Junction: 2nd step to convert a shell object into an unfoldable sheet metal object, creates an open junction on the edge of two walls.

• Make Bend: 3rd step to convert a shell object into an unfoldable sheet metal object, replaces sharp edges with round bends.

• Wrap Cutout: Cuts a sketch based hole pattern along the folded walls of a sheet metal object.

• Extruded Cutout: Creates an extruded cutout from a sketch extrusion.

• Make Forming in Wall: Embosses shapes with or without holes into a sheet metal plate.

Brief description

This workbench provides tools for the two main tasks:

• Create sheet metal objects
• Unfold sheet metal objects

This section is meant to give a rough idea of how to use the supplied tools. More detailed information can be found on each tool's own page (see above) or in the linked tutorials (see below).

Create a sheet metal object

Start with a profile

1. Create an open polyline (preferably with the Sketcher Workbench)
2. Use the Make Base Wall command to create a sheet metal profile.

Start with a blank

1. Create a closed polyline (preferably with the sketcher)
2. Use the Make Base Wall command to create a sheet metal blank.

Start with a base shape

1. Use the Add base shape comand to add a basic sheet metal object from parameters.

Start with a solid shape

Alternatively a blank and a profile shape can be created with tools of the Part Workbench or PartDesign Workbench.

• Part Workbench:
  1. Create a Part Extrude from a closed 2D wire such as a Draft Rectangle, a Draft Wire, or a Sketch.

  Depending on the 2D wire shape and the extrusion length this creates a blank or a profile.

• PartDesign Workbench:
  1. Create a PartDesign Body
  2. Create a closed Sketch.
  3. Create a PartDesign Pad from the sketch.

  Depending on the sketch shape and pad height this creates a blank or a profile.

Already folded shapes require hollow shapes to be transformed into unfoldable sheet metal shapes by adding some gaps or connections between their walls:

1. Create a hollow shape:
   • Part Workbench:
   1. Create a Part Extrude as above, or use a primitive like a Part Box instead.
   2. Use Part Thickness to obtain a hollow shape of constant thickness.
   • PartDesign Workbench:
   1. Create a PartDesign Pad as above, or use a primitive like a PartDesign AdditiveBox.
   2. Use PartDesign Thickness to obtain a hollow shape of constant thickness.
2. Adding gaps and connections to the edged shape:
   1. Use Make Relief to cut off selected corners.
   2. Use Make Junction to create junctions with gaps between adjoining walls that need to be disjoined.
   3. Use Make Bend to create cylindrical connections for the remaining walls that need to stay joined.
3. Check if the resulting sheet metal object can be unfolded. (see Unfold... below).

If you start modeling a sheet metal shape in a PartDesign Body, you can mix SheetMetal features with PartDesign features such as PartDesign Pocket or PartDesign Hole.

Adding more features

The unfoldable basic sheet metal shape can be extended:

1. Use Extend Face to enlarge walls.
2. Use Extend by Sketch to partially extend walls and optionally create interlocking geometry. (V0.7.57 and above)
3. Use Make Wall to add new flanges or hems to the existing shape.
4. Use Add Corner Relief to add or reshape corner reliefs.
5. Use Fold a Wall to fold a wall at a chosen line, i.e. it will trimm a wall at said line, relocate the cut away side, and rejoin them with a cylindrical connection.
6. Use Sketch on Sheet metal to cut holes into the shape starting on a chosen wall and then following the adjoined walls and connections.
7. Use Extruded Cutout to cut oblique holes but obtain perpendicular edge faces that do not prevent the shape from being unfolded.
8. Use Make Forming in Wall to stamp a shape into a plate (wall).

After the creation of a WallForming feature the SheetMetal object is no longer unfoldable!

Some parameters will be inherited from the parent object(s) but it is better to check the relevant parameters at each stage.

Several tools from other workbenches can be used to add holes or to reshape edges.

Unfold a sheet metal object

To unfold a sheet metal object activate the Unfold or the Unattended Unfold tool.

The result will be a 3D object with an optional outline sketch including bend lines.

Examples

Until tutorial pages are available on this wiki there is an Examples page.

It contains some hints about properties as well.

• The workbench is affected by the topological naming issue that is inherent to FreeCAD. If an edit of a bend earlier in the history of the part renumbers the faces, then the following bends may be affected and switch faces. If the bend features do not break, you can double-click on it to get a dialog where you can select the proper face in the 3D View, and update the Bend.
• The Unfold tool has some limitations, and will fail in certain complex situations. When it fails, try to select a different face.
• Frequent case of crash: take a lot of precautions not to cut in the hinges (the folds) either along the faces or in the angles nor to make holes or notches through the angles.

Tutorials

Videos

• The Elegant SheetMetal Workbench by Joko Engineering

• Macro Sheet Metal Unfolder, the original macro the Unfold tool is based on.
• An English and French tutorial in PDF format on the FreeCAD forum.
• Report bugs/Request features: https://github.com/shaise/FreeCAD_SheetMetal/issues.

References

• Author:
  • Folding tools: Copyright 2015-2018 by Shai Seger
  • Unfolding tool: Copyright 2014 by Ulrich Brammer
• License: GPLv3
• Source code on github: https://github.com/shaise/FreeCAD_SheetMetal