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SolidWorks Tips & Tricks sponsored by SolidWorks for the Sheet Metal Guy
Controlling the Default
Bend Radius The easiest way to create a custom sheet metal gauge table is to copy the sample table and then just modify the table with your own values. To do this, open Microsoft Excel and open a sample table located in: <SW Install Directory>\lang\english\Sheet Metal Gauge Tables. For this example, I used sample table steel english units.xls. Pull down the File menu and pick Save As. In the Save As dialog box, change the file name to CRS Gauges.xls and press Save. I recommend using the material type as a file name, like CRS for Cold Rolled Steel, so that you can easily find the gauge table that you need. Once the sample table is saved with a new name, you can edit the table to include your standard sheet metal gauges. In my example, four gauges are shown; 16, 10, 12, and 20. 16 Gauge is shown first because this is the default material thickness I want when this gauge table is selected in SolidWorks. In the Available Bend Radius column, you are allowed to specify as many bend radii as you like. Just remember that the first one in the list is the one that SolidWorks uses as the default. It is very easy to override these values when you need to. So, don't worry about listing every possible radius that you will ever need to use. Make sure that you use a semi colon (;) as a delimiter between values.
Save the Excel file and return to SolidWorks. Now, when you create a sheet metal Base Flange, check Use gauge table in the Base Flange PropertyManager. Then, pull down the Gauge Table list and pick your sheet metal gauge table to be used. For this example, pick CRS Gauges. Under Sheet Metal Parameters, your default thickness is set for you from your table. If you want to change it, pull down the list and change it. The default bend radius for this material thickness will be set automatically. It does not display in the Base Flange PropertyManager. If you want to see it or change it, edit the Sheet-Metal1 feature in your design tree. If you change to a different table after your initial selection, or select a different gauge thickness, the bend radius is updated and also the default k-factor. Making changes to the tables in Excel does not update your existing parts. For changes in the tables to take effect, you must open each part file, change to a different table and then change back to the edited table. To learn more about sheet metal gauge tables, click here.
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