In this video I'm going to show you how to use the base flange feature in
SolidWorks. In this demonstration I'm going to use 2018 which may have more
options and older versions but the basic concepts are the same across all
currently available versions I'll show you the three different ways to use this
feature the profile sketch method can be a tab feature and the close to create a
sheet metal part in SolidWorks you need to start by creating a base flange a
base flange feature provides a foundation from which you can build your
part one of the most common ways of creating a sheet metal body is by
creating a base flange using a profile sketch. to do this we start by clicking
the base flange feature in the sheet metal tab at the sheetmetal tab is not
active simply right-click on any of the tabs and click the sheetmetal to check
and activate it. next we'll select a plane by left clicking this
activates the sketch mode so we will create a sketch and I like to use the
mouse gestures and hotkeys so I apologize if it's hard to follow along
We will follow good practice and add some dimensions to fully constrain our sketch
essentially what we're doing here is creating a profile the part geometry and
then we will extrude this profile using the base flange feature so once the
sketch is defined to the desired dimensions we will click the exit sketch
button to complete the sketch and enter the base flange feature editor so this
is where we are actually creating the sheet metal body and editing those
parameters the first field labeled Direction 1 is where we can set the
extra length notice the different options which are the same as the
standard SolidWorks extrude options we have blind, up to vertex, up to surface,
offset from surface, and midpoint. Since we have no other geometry in this part
file our only real options here are blind meaning one direction from the
active plane and mid plane meaning both directions symmetrically from the active
plane I'll go with blind I'll set the extrude dimension to 20 inches and now
we can start to see what our body will so there's some other options here that
I will not be using we could add a second direction to our extrude if
necessary could check the use gauge table box to select our material
information from a gauge table gauge tables are a whole topic in itself but
basically it just allows you to pick a material which will pull some of these
next parameters from a predefined list or Excel spreadsheet it is a very handy
option but unless you have the gauge tables that setup for your specific
company or your specific designs and available materials it's really not that useful. so since we
aren't using a gauge table we can and put the sheet metal parameters manually
so I'll choose the .060" material thickness and use the 1:1
thickness to radius ratio rule of thumb and use a .060" radius as well. another
important note always be conscious of the direction the sheet metal is being
formed from the profile sketch so notice the difference when I check and un-check
the reverse direction box here this is a common place for errors to occur because
the direction obviously affects the dimensions of apartment so there you
have it that's how to create a basic sheet metal part using the base flange
profile sketch method now let's take a look at how to add some geometry to this
part by using the tab feature so let's add a slotted tab on our part now that
we have the general geometry completed we can add it on to any flange or face
the part by clicking the face and creating a sketch for the geometry we
wish to add so all we have to do is click the face we want to add to and
click the base blanch button again and then it takes us into sketch mode to
create the geometry so I'll create that geometry for the slotted tab and once
that is complete and fully defined I complete the sketch and a tab feature is
created and added to our part so the other way of creating a sheet metal part
using the base flange feature is the closed sketch method to do this we click
the base flange button we select a plane to sketch on and that will open the
sketch mode similarly to creating a tab feature we just sketch the exact
geometry of the flange we want to create I'm fast-forwarding through the
sketching portion of the video just because I want to focus on the
sheetmetal aspects so I apologize if it's hard to follow those parts of the
video so once we have that geometry created when we exit the sketch motor
prompts us to enter the parameters of the baseline feature so since we have
the exact 2d geometry this part created all we have to do is enter the sheet
metal parameters like thickness, Direction, K factor, etc. so once we
check that off as complete we have a sheet metal body and we can do all the
same things like add tabs to this so I'll just show that quick and then like
I said the base flange is the starting point usually when you're designing a
sheet metal part from scratch so from this we can add things like edge flanges
or miter flanges or hems or all those
different types of other sheetmetal features that SolidWorks has available
but typically these are the starting points for creating that sheet metal
body and then once we have this we can build off of it
more complex geometries and a door she felt parts in later videos I'll be
covering all the different other features a few panels so I think the
next one will be the edge flange features so definitely check that one
out if you want to keep building on this and follow along with me as I release
these videos as always thank you so much for watching if you have any questions
comment below if you like what you see please give me a like and of course make
sure to subscribe and turn on notifications so you can get all these
videos as I'm releasing them and one more thing give me a comment let me know
what you think about the SolidWorks videos if you want to see more of this
stuff I know there's some other channels that are covering these things but I'm
always happy to make custom videos for anybody that wants to see specific
things so please be sure to share any video ideas or other feedback you have
for me so with that thanks again for watching and we'll see you next time