Autodesk Inventor - Lofted Flange

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Lofted Flange:

The Lofted Flange feature creates a Flange between 2 profiles. These profiles can be open or closed profiles.

To create a Lofted Flange:

 In this example i am going to show you how to create a square to round. Using the Lofted Flange feature.

Fist create a sketch on the XY plane. Then sketch a Rectangle.


Then offset a plane from the XY plane.


Then start a sketch on the plane you offset. And draw a circle.




Than select the Lofted Flange feature. Select the 2 profiles.



Output

 In output you have 2 options. Press Brake and Die Formed.

Press Brake

 To be bend on a Press Brake.


Converge

Converge makes bend line converge to a point. As you can see in the pictures below.

Converge box UN ticked


Converge box ticked




Die Formed

 To be Die formed.


Facet Control

 Facet control has 3 settings. These settings control the amount of bends it takes to create the square to round. The more bends, the rounder the circle at the top.
Rip

 Next we need to place a Rip in to the Lofted Flange. Placing a Rip will allow the sheet metal to be flat patterned. In the picture below i have selected Point to Point from the drop down menu. Select the face you want to place the Rip in. Then select 2 points you want the Rip to go between, shown circled in red. This will create a Rip in the metal, allowing it to be flat patterned.


 Flat Pattern

 Flat pattern of square to round using Lofted Flange and Rip.
Thanks for reading,

 Thomas Savage

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