Tab And Slot Sheet Metal Design
- These couplers are formed out of sheet metal, allowing the tab to mate with the slot of the coupler on the adjacent car. This design was simple and effective, and most makers of trains used some form of this design or another prior to World War II.
- When designing for slots and tabs, never design for the tabs to be centered in the slot in regards to the material thickness. You always want tabs to be clamped against the inside of a slot to act as a stop. My experiences were normally 18-10ga sheet aluminum and SST, and 1/4'-1/2' plate steel.
More ways to influence the slot shape. Default through-all cut functionality for the slot. Using nonlinear edges for tab and slot. Luckily SOLIDWORKS listened to these user demands and with the release of SOLIDWORKS 2019 they introduced a lot of new functionality for sheet metal tab and slot.
Sheet metal design guidelines are followed to design quality sheet metal enclosures. This helps in delivering the product at low cost and faster timelines. All
Sheet Metal Design Guidelines
Following points should be considered during the design of sheet metal parts for press bending.
Sheet Metal Material Selection
- Simulation Studies
- Past Experience
- Reverse Engineer existing products
- Experimental Studies
Read this guide to know more about sheet metal material selection Process.
Minimum inside bend Radius for Sheet Metal Parts
Sharp inside bend radius in sheetmetal parts can cause material flow problems in soft material and fracturing in hard material. Which results in localized necking or fracture. Therefore sharp bend radius is not recommended in sheet metal parts.
Bend radius throughout the sheet metal part is kept constant to take the advantage of using the same tool during manufacturing.
Minimum Sheet Metal Bend Length Recommendations
Minimum Hole Diameter Guidelines
Hole/Slot Distance from Bend Edge
Minimum distance between hole/slot edge to bend edge is recommended to avoid metal distortion, deformation and fracturing.
Sheet Metal Tab And Slot Design Guide
Center to Center Distance Between two Holes
Minimum center to center distance between two holes in sheet metal parts is required to avoid metal distortion, deformation and fracturing.
Recommended Minimum distance between two hole centers in sheet metal design should be equal to sum of hole radius plus two times the sheet thickness.
Recommended Distance = Radius of Hole1 + Radius of Hole2 + Sheet ThicknessEffect of Grain Direction in Sheet Metal Bending
During sheet metal processing ( rolling operation), material grains are arranged in the direction of rolling. When Sheetmetal is bend perpendicular to rolling direction grain rearranges. That has negligible impact on part strength. Whereas bending parallel to rolling direction can lead to cracks because of destruction in grain structure.
Bend Relief in Sheet Metal Bend
Bend relief is provided at the end of the bending edge in sheet metal design to avoid any crack tearing in the corner. Relief height is generally kept greater than two times of sheet thickness plus bend radius.
Extrude Hole Size and Position Guidelines
Sheet Metal And Tab Slot Design Guide
Creating an extruded hole using a punching process requires extreme pressure/Force. Extruded holes very close to the part edge can lead to sheet metal deformation or tearing. Therefore the minimum distance between the extruded hole to edge if maintained.
Extruded hole to part edge (B) = 3T + D/2Center of extruded Holes (A) = (5 + Hole Dia + 2T)Extruded Hole and bend edge (C) = 3T + R + D/2Round Emboss Design Guidelines
Creating Emboss feature using sheet metal punching requires extreme pressure. Very close emboss to the part edge, can lead to deformation in the sheet metal part.
A – Distance From Emboss To part Edge = 3T + D/2B- Distance Between Two Emboss = (5 + D)C- Distance between Emboss and Sheet Metal bend = 3T + R + D/2Dimple Feature Design in Sheet Metal Parts
Louver Feature Design in Sheet Metal
Minimum distance between louver feature and bending edge is maintained to avoid metal deformation.
(P1) Distance Between Two lowers on Shorter Edge = 5 mm(P2) Distance Between Two lowers on Longer Edge = 8 mmRound Knockout Design Recommendation
Tabs and slots are commonly used to align interlocking sheet metal components, and the new Tab and Slot feature in SOLIDWORKS 2018 allows for corresponding tabs and slots to be created in one operation. This is definitely easier than using a complicated design library feature or separate extrude, cut, and pattern features.
The required selections for the Tab and Slot feature are the edge to add tabs to and the face for the slots. The tabs can be offset from either end of the edge. The spacing can either be set with an equally spaced quantity or spacing length. The length of the tabs needs to be specified and the height of the tabs can be defined with different end conditions. Fillets or chamfers can be added if needed. And the clearance between the tabs and slots can be specified.Some other notes about the
Tab and Slot feature:- Two linked features are created in the FeatureManager Design Tree (one for the tab and one for the slot).
- It can be inserted at any position along the slot body.
- Groups can be used to manage multiple edges.
- It works with planar and cylindrical geometry.
- The bodies do not need to be in contact.
- It works on regular, non-sheet-metal solid bodies as well.
For more information, check out our YouTube channel, get a SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD quote or contact us at Hawk Ridge Systems today. Thanks for reading!