Solidworks allows the use of sheet metal tables (gauge tables and bend tables) for the design of sheet metal parts. These tables are in the form of excel documents and restrict sheet metal part designs to specific thicknesses, K-Factors, bend deductions, and bend allowances that are directly suited to the tooling used in the bending process of your part. These tables are an extremely useful feature, as they ensure your fabricated part to be identical to your design in Solidworks.
In this article we’ll discuss the following:
- Types of gauge tables
- Hybrid gauge and bend tables offered by SendCutSend
- How to import and use SendCutSend’s gauge tables in Solidworks
SendCutSend Gauge Tables for Solidworks Free Download
Types of Sheet Metal Gauge Tables
There are a variety of different sheet metal table types. Some simple types of gauge tables describe a couple parameters such as sheet thicknesses and corresponding bend radii. Other types of tables called bend tables, describe some more information such as bend allowances for different gauges, but do not always help the user know what range of gauges to stay within, according to the limits of the tooling.
A third type of table is a hybrid gauge and bend table. This is the type of table SendCutSend offers and is considered a more comprehensive gauge table. SendCutSend offers a large variety of these gauge tables for different materials that suit the specific tools used in the bending process. They are free to download and can be found here: SendCutSend Gauge Tables for Solidworks Free Download
The downloaded tables are in the form of a zip file and contain K-Factor, bend deduction, and bend allowance values for all the different materials that SendCutSend offers bending services for.
How to Import SendCutSend Gauge Tables Into Solidworks
Once the gauge tables have been downloaded, it is necessary to make them retrievable by moving them to the folder location where Solidworks stores default sheet metal tables.
To find this folder location
- Open Solidworks and navigate to ‘System Options’ by clicking the gear wheel in the top ribbon of the screen.
- Select “File Locations” in the left-hand-side navigator and click on the drop-down menu next to “Show folder for”.
- Select “Sheet Metal Gauge Table”. The resulting folder path in the “Folders” dialogue box is the default location where Solidworks stores and pulls these sheet metal tables.
- Copy and paste the SendCutSend tables into that location.
To import a table, first create a basic sheet metal part. Below is an example of a simple rectangular flat sheet. A rectangular sketch was created, and the “Base Flange/Tab” feature was selected to convert the sketch into a base flange sheet metal part.
In the Base Flange window, select the box next to “Use gauge table”. Click “Browse” and select the folder where the sheet metal tables are located. Now, in the drop-down menu, you can select any one of the SendCutSend tables from that folder.
Once the table is selected, available sheet metal thicknesses for the selected material table are automatically imported into the drop-down under “Sheet Metal Parameters”. Each thickness has a corresponding bend radius that also automatically populates in the text box below the thickness drop-down menu.
Finally, the bend parameters automatically update under “Bend Allowance”. If a K-Factor table was selected, Solidworks will automatically apply the correct K-Factor. If a BD or BA table was selected, Solidworks will automatically apply the correct Bend Deduction or Bend Allowance. Click the green check mark to finish creating the base/flange part in Solidworks
Using SendCutSend’s Gauge Tables for Solidworks in Your Project
Importing these SendCutSend gauge tables into Solidworks and using them for the design of sheet metal parts efficiently guides you to only select sheet metal parameters found in those tables. Thus, making sure that the intended thicknesses, bend radii, and bend allowances are directly suited to the tooling used to bend parts, and ultimately ensuring a reliable and accurate sheet metal part.
For additional bending tools, reference SendCutSend’s bending calculator and bending series on YouTube.
