Cardboard box using sheet metal

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OficineRobotica
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Cardboard box using sheet metal

Post by OficineRobotica »

IMPORTANT- Using the LinkStage3 branch and any numbering of FC versions is refering to that branch NOT to freecad master.

A cardboard box designed using sheet metal and the linkstage3 branch due to its resilience to the infamous toponaming problem.

A 4mm corrugated cardboard was considered with a bend radius of 0,5 mm and a manual kfactor of 0,7. The small bend radius stems from the fact that cardboard will sort of crush at bends instead of creating a radius like a sheet of metal would do.

Also a bend radius smaller than 0,5 mm will result in a failure of the unfold. Another reason to keep an eye on for a successful unfold is intersecting model. If there is any self intersection of the model the unfold will fail. One best practice that i learned doing this model is to quick unfold after every new feature added to check if everything is ok. It is quick and a fast CTRL-Z will remove the unfolded body and generated sketches.

Some screenshots of the various states of folding.
CardBoardBox.jpeg
CardBoardBox.jpeg (246.72 KiB) Viewed 7190 times
CardBoardBox1.jpeg
CardBoardBox1.jpeg (180.22 KiB) Viewed 7190 times
CardBoardBox2.jpeg
CardBoardBox2.jpeg (257.58 KiB) Viewed 7190 times
CardBoardBox3.jpeg
CardBoardBox3.jpeg (204.19 KiB) Viewed 7190 times
I'vd attached a striped down version of the file due to file dimension restriction on the forum. Just select the bottom face of the box and unfold in SheetMetal
workbench.
IMPORTANT: this design might break in FC master. Better to use LinkStage3
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CardBoardBox_Small.FCStd
(687.12 KiB) Downloaded 221 times
Last edited by OficineRobotica on Wed Aug 19, 2020 7:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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OficineRobotica
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Re: Cardboard box using sheet metal

Post by OficineRobotica »

CardBoardBox4.jpeg
CardBoardBox4.jpeg (187.75 KiB) Viewed 7185 times
CardBoardBox5.jpeg
CardBoardBox5.jpeg (175.71 KiB) Viewed 7185 times
Of great help in working with this model was the feature highlight present in LinkStage3. Hovering over the various bends one has immediately a idea of which is which.
Of great help in working with this model was the feature highlight present in LinkStage3. Hovering over the various bends one has immediately a idea of which is which.
CardBoardBox6.jpeg (211.81 KiB) Viewed 7185 times
Note how the various bends avoid hitting each other.
Note how the various bends avoid hitting each other.
CardBoardBox7.jpeg (200.86 KiB) Viewed 7185 times
And note the perfect transparency render always courtesy of realthunder :D
And note the perfect transparency render always courtesy of realthunder :D
CardBoardBox8.jpeg (218.54 KiB) Viewed 7185 times
There is a problem tough with this model and I wasn't able to find a solution. The last pad won't show in the unfold no mater what i do. If someone finds a solution please enlighten me.
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paullee
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Re: Cardboard box using sheet metal

Post by paullee »

Cool . 8-)
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OficineRobotica
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Re: Cardboard box using sheet metal

Post by OficineRobotica »

paullee wrote: Tue Aug 18, 2020 2:09 pmCool . 8-)
Thank you :D
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Re: Cardboard box using sheet metal

Post by paullee »

BTW, mind to share your works ?

Any good tutorial on how to use SheetMetal WB to recommend ? :D

Thanks.
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Gregory son of Carl
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Re: Cardboard box using sheet metal

Post by Gregory son of Carl »

Interesting use of the SheetMetal WB! Question about the workbench: does it allow you to create perforations at the seams for this kind of use case? If not, do you think it would be a worthwhile addition?
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OficineRobotica
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Re: Cardboard box using sheet metal

Post by OficineRobotica »

paullee wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 12:42 am BTW, mind to share your works ?

Any good tutorial on how to use SheetMetal WB to recommend ? :D

Thanks.
At the bottom of the first post you can find the file to download. Note that realthunder is tweaking the toponaming algorithm and the model is failing with the 08.18 build. The model was saved with the 08.12 build and you can play with the various states of unfolding there.
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Re: Cardboard box using sheet metal

Post by chrisb »

OficineRobotica wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 6:58 am Note that realthunder is tweaking the toponaming algorithm and the model is failing with the 08.18 build. The model was saved with the 08.12 build and you can play with the various states of unfolding there.
Others please note, that these version numbers are not FreeCAD versions, they refer to realthunder's branch.
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OficineRobotica
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Re: Cardboard box using sheet metal

Post by OficineRobotica »

Gregory son of Carl wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 1:49 am Interesting use of the SheetMetal WB! Question about the workbench: does it allow you to create perforations at the seams for this kind of use case? If not, do you think it would be a worthwhile addition?
Do you mean pre perforate the cardboard so that it easlly folds? I guess you could do that the same way I added the 2 cutouts at the bottom of the box. But there is no automated way of doing it from what I know. On top of that I remember reading somewhere that it is not recommended to add partdesign features over the seams as the unfolding might fail. If one want's it it should be coded in some way in to the workbench. Unfortunately I have almost 0 coding skills.

Any feature that might help the user is worth wile adding in my humble opinion. It just needs someone with the skills willing to do so.

While doing this model what I have really really wished to have as feature was:

1-having SheetMetal workbench use the task panel for bends similar with how pad in PartDesign works. That could allow a preview of the bend and on the fly insertion of some cherry picked "oftenly changing" parameters as bend length / type / radius / invert / relief etc. As it stands right now it is allot of back and forth between the model and the property view. It was almost hilarious that 90% of the time i neded to change the direction and length of the fold.

2-In the particular case of this model it would of been really usefull to have as bend length a "to face" option with a additional offset option. That would of sped up the modeling and made the model "highly" parametric

Perhaps we could jump in the SheetMetal workbench and try to make some feature request. It is such a powerful tool that could become awesome from a usability point of view
Last edited by OficineRobotica on Wed Aug 19, 2020 7:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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OficineRobotica
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Re: Cardboard box using sheet metal

Post by OficineRobotica »

chrisb wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2020 7:17 am Others please note, that these version numbers are not FreeCAD versions, they refer to realthunder's branch.
Thank you. I modified the first post to reflect that.
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