Can Solidworks do what I need?

[deker]

Hello folks, I'm a complete newbie here, and have only
played a bit with Solidworks at a friend's place, but
before I drop the $$ for Solidworks, I'm trying to find
out if it can do some "non-standard" modeling I'd like
to use it for.

I'm a blacksmith and knifemaker and aside from the
obvious uses of jig and equipment design that Solidworks
can offer me, I'm trying to find out if it can model the
effects of forging. As an example, here is an image of a
part done by a friend of mine that used the twist feature
and an extruded cut to simulate a specific forging
operation I do a lot of which is twisting. That seems to
work well and looks like this (well, WOULD look like
something, but the forum keeps mangling my tags, so
try going to the URL below)

[url]http://gallery.slackdot.org/d/38620-2/7layer-1080deg.jpg[/url]

What I'm interested in is using Solidworks to model
forging deformation in steel to explore some of the
things I can do in steel without the time and expense of
testing in actual steel. In an ideal world, I'd be able
to model a "stack" of pieces of steel and push a too into
it, deforming the multiple stacked layers as would happen
in real life. Of everything I've seen, Solidworks seems
like it would be the tool best suited to this set of
tasks, but I want to make sure before I plunk down the
cash for it.

Thanks,

-d

 

[mbiasotti]

I'm a blacksmith and knifemaker and aside from the
obvious uses of jig and equipment design that Solidworks
can offer me,

D - we have lots of customers that use SW for this purpose. One of our more famous customers is KeyKnife www.keyknife.com


Regards


Mark

 

[deker]

I'm a blacksmith and
knifemaker and aside from the obvious uses of jig and
equipment design that Solidworks can offer me,

 

[joelewinski]

Let me see if I understand. Are you asking if Solidworks can simulate the "flow" of a pliable material (in your case, steel) when pressure in the form of some tool (let's say a hammer) is applied to it?


Umm, no. I don't think so. You'll need a program that can do non-linear modeling/analysis. I'm not even sure that a program such as MoldFlow could do that sort of "unknown" deformation.


Joe L

 

[c_thompson_68]

SolidWorks has forming tools (form punch) for working with sheet metal applications. They are, however, somewhat limited and I have had better success modeling sheet metal parts with a form punch using Pro/Engineer than SolidWorks. Pro-E can also has the option to "twist" a sheet metal partwhich is includedin itssheet metal tools.


In general, SW is easier to learn and set-up. If the forming tools cannot create the desired shape, than the part could be created by surfaces or hybrid modeling (Solids and Surfaces) which SolidWorks does a fine job at.


I would suggest having a part modeled in both SW and Pro-E, and see which one meets your needs better. If you need simulation such as static finite-element analysis (FEA), than I would suggest purchasing SolidWorks Premium.


Chris Thompson


www.appianwaytech.com


SW Premium 2007 & 2009


Pro-E WF 2.0 & 3.0
Edited by: c_thompson_68

 

[joelewinski]

Solidworks DOES have a twist tool, but from I can understand from the OP is that he is wanting to see where and/or how the material will flow when struck with a hammer or forming tool. If you already know what the finished form will look like, then yes, SolidWorks CAN do that, BUT, if you want to see where it will flow to, then no.

 

[mbiasotti]

[
Mark,

please pardon my ignorance, but I want to make sure I
understand you correctly. You have customers who use SW
for jig and tool design, or for modeling hot plastic
deformation of steel?

thanks,

-d

D, my mistake, I did not read your post carefully enough. SW is not suited for this type of deformation. It does have a feature called Flex which will allow you to Bend, Stretch, Twist or taper your solid model or a portion of it, but is won't hold to, the original volume.


Regards



Mark

 

[Jbiplane777]

What I'm interested in is using Solidworks to model
forging deformation in steel to explore some of the
things I can do in steel without the time and expense of
testing in actual steel.

Hello Deker


There are at least4 special applications which taylored for you task. Me personally prefer "Shop-level" Deform3D, the easier to use Qform, other 2 a bit complicated SuperForge or Marc from MSC. Does not matter how you modelled your "initial model". SolidWorks rather good choice for, but dont mess real life forging simulation and "deforming features" of modelling packages... Deforming features are abstract and knows nothing about material properties etc...


Yours,


Valery Rutkovskiy, [email protected]