About Contour Flanges in Sheet Metal

You create a contour flange from an unconsumed or shared open profile sketch. Closed profiles are not valid input.

The profile sketch consists of lines, arcs, splines, and elliptical arcs. Sharp corners in the geometry profile results in bends in the contour which honor the bend radius value of the sheet metal style.

You can offset the contour flange to either side of the profile sketch or use the sketched profile as the flange midplane. When you use a contour flange as the base feature of the design, a distance parameter is supplied rather than an edge selection.

As with standard flange features, you can create a contour flange feature using:

• A specific distance.
• From/to positions defined by existing features.
• Offsets from either or both ends of a selected edge.

Multi-edge contour flanges created with the Apply Auto-Mitering checkbox selected have material trimmed from both flanges which may have intersected at the end of each flange. The Auto-Mitering option is in the Corner Defaults group in the Contour Flange property panel.

You can create a contour flange by selecting several individual edges or an entire loop of edges around a planar face. Contour flanges created using multiple edges use the corner options specified by the sheet metal style and can be mitered automatically.

While selecting edges for a multi-edge contour flange, edit glyphs display in the graphics window where the created flanges share corners. Using these glyphs, you can change the bend width and corner parameters from the defaults. You can reset corner parameters to the default feature style with the Reset All Corners functionality.

Tips for selecting edges and loops for contour flange

• To use other input value methods, click the right-pointing arrow associated with the input value field.

• The profile sketch must be coincident and perpendicular to one of the edges of the loop (not necessarily the edge used to select the loop).

• You can select both a single-edge and a loop within a single contour flange feature.

• The edge selected for your contour flange must be perpendicular to the profile sketch plane.

• It is faster to select a complex loop and then de-select individual edges than to select all edges separately. Select the loop, and after the flange previews, click Edge Select Mode and then CTRL select the edges to cancel.

• You can select multiple edges only if the following conditions do not exist:

  • The start or endpoint of your profile sketch is not coincident with the infinite line defined by the first selected edge
  • The width extents option is set to From sketch plane
  • The selected profile contains geometry other than straight-line or circular arc segments

• To remove an edge set click the 'X' to the right in the property panel. Then select a different set of edges.