Project: HiCAD Sheet Metal

Example: How to Create a Bore Pattern

HiCAD has libraries of bore patterns (e.g. Agrafes) and punches. To expand the libraries you can use

• 2-D parts that could be parameterized with the 2-D HCM (file format: .DCF) or
• planar sketches that can be parameterized with the Sketch HCM (file format: .KRA)

(please also see Bore Patterns in 3-D).

The following example uses the contour shown below as a bore pattern in different sizes.

Example 1: Create 2-D part > Parameterize > Add bore pattern to catalogue > Insert new bore pattern

Example 1

Step 1: Create 2-D part

1. Open the 2-D Part tab and choose New > New main part to create an empty 2-D part, e.g. Ring01.
2. Switch to the 2-D Geometry tab, choose Draw > Circle > CP-P . Draw a circle with a size of 30, and a second circle with a size of 40 with the same centre point.
3. Place an isolated point into the centres of the circles via Tools > New point .
4. Move the 2-D part to the origin. Right-click the part name (Ring01) in the ICN. In the context menu, choose the Move part, Sketch function beneath Transform. Then, select the isolated point and move it to the absolute point (0, 0).

Step 2: Parameterize

1. Clear the variables memory via Information > 3-D, Further > Var. > Delete variables .
2. Switch to the 2-D Part tab.
3. Specify the parallelism constraints: Choose 2-D HCM Constraints > Fix > Concentric and identify the two circles.
4. Then, choose ... Distance > Radius to assign the positional constraint to the elements. Identify the outer circle, enter r1 instead of a value input, and 40 as the variable for r1. Identify the inner circle, enter r2 and 30 as the variable.

5. Save the HCM model with 2-D HCM Constraints > Edit > Without database , e.g. with the name Ring01. Select the HiCAD folder KATALOGE/WERKSNORMEN/MUSTERBOHRUNGEN as storage location.

Step 3: Add bore pattern to catalogue

1. Start the CATEDITOR.EXE program in the HiCAD EXE directory.
2. Open the Bore patterns table. Choose Extras > Table > New to create a new table for the bore pattern, e.g. Ring01.
3. Select the Category 2-D pattern. Confirm with OK.

4. The new table contains the columns ID, MOD, STATUS and BZ.
5. Now add further columns by right-clicking the column header of the BZ column and selecting New column.
6. Enter the name of the variable in the Designation field, e.g. r1. In the Data type Floating point number. The text in the Comment field will be shown as tooltip. when you move the cursor over the column header. Enter, e.g., Outer radius here.

7. Create another column (r2, Floating point number, Inner radius) for the variable r2.
8. Now, create the data records. Right-click on the leftmost side of the first row and select New record. In the new rows, double-click in the BZ columns and enter the names that are to appear during a later selection in HiCAD, e.g. R1-10, R2-5. Enter the path of the parameter variant (Ring01.dcf). Then, enter the values for the variables R1 and R2.
9. Add further records and save the table (File > Save).

Step 4: Insert new bore pattern

1. Create a new base sheet in HiCAD: On the Sheet Metal tab, choose New > Create base sheet. Enter the desired dimensions in the dialogue window, e.g. Width 1000, Depth 1500 and Thickness 2. Confirm with OK. Specify the two fitting points for the base sheet in the drawing via right-click.

2. First, activate the Sheet Metal flange that is to be processed, then select the Bore pattern function (3-D Standard > Standard Processings > Bore > ...).
3. Activate the required options in the Settings dialogue for the bores and confirm with OK. Choose Through for the processing of several flanges and Prompt for processing plane.

4. Activate 2 edges of the base sheet to define the processing plane.
5. In the selection window, choose the bore pattern Ring01. The variants will be shown on the right hand side. After selecting a variant, e.g. R1-40, R2-30, click OK.

6. Select a Grid for insertion. Click the Linear button and enter the number of bores in X- and Y-direction, e.g. nx: 10 and ny: 9 an. For the distance in X-direction enter dx: 130 and click the icon to apply the same value to all bores in X-direction. For the distance in Y-direction enter dy: 110. Here, too, click the icon.

The fitting grid determines the distance of the bores in X- and Y-direction, respectively. The value can be specified individually for each row/column.

7. Position the tool using the point options. Open the point options window with Return. Choose Relative and, in the displayed pocket calculator window, click OK. Identify the upper left corner of the sheet. The pocket calculator will then prompt you to specify the X- and the Y-value. Enter 750 for X, 500 for Y and 0 for Z and confirm with OK.

You can then insert the bore again, change the parameters via right-click, or end the function by pressing the middle mouse button.

Further Tools (3-D SM) • Bore Pattern (3-D SM)