Shop Bend Table
Your shop's own bend numbers for the flat pattern. Each row says: for this material, this thickness and this inside radius, use this K-factor or this bend allowance. When you export a flat pattern with Method set to Shop table, every bend takes its number from the first row that matches it.
Where It Is
Right-click a face of a bent sheet metal part, choose Export, Export this face as DXF, then Whole flat pattern (unfolded). Set Method to Shop table and press Edit shop table....
Step by Step
- In the flat pattern window, set Method to Shop table.
- Press Edit shop table.... The Shop bend table window opens.
- Press Add row and fill it in:
- Material: the material as the Material list names it, or the start of that name (Mild steel matches Mild steel (A36, CRS, HRPO)). Leave it empty to match any material.
- Thickness: one size (2), or a range (1.5-2 or 1.5 to 2). Leave it empty to match any thickness.
- Inside radius: one size or a range, the same way. Leave it empty to match any radius.
- Gives: K-factor (a number from 0 to 1) or Bend allowance 90 (the bend allowance from your press brake chart for a 90 degree bend, the length the bend itself takes in the flat).
- Value: the K-factor or the bend allowance.
- Unit: mm or in, for the thickness, the radius and the bend allowance of this row.
- Add as many rows as you need. Rows are read from the top, so put the most exact rows first and the broad ones (any radius) below them. Use the arrow button to move a row up and the x button to delete it.
- Press Save. The window closes and the flat size is worked out again with your rows.
- Press Export in the flat pattern window. The DXF note names the shop table rows used.
How a Bend Finds Its Row
- The first row whose material, thickness and inside radius all match wins.
- Sizes match within half a thousandth of an inch (0.0127 mm), or a thousandth of the size if that is more, because a size read off a model is never exact.
- A Bend allowance 90 row is turned into the K-factor it means for that bend's own radius and the sheet's thickness. A 90 degree bend lays out at exactly the bend allowance you typed; a bend of another angle gets angle x (inside radius + K x thickness) with that K.
- No row matches: that bend uses the bend table K-factor for the Material instead. The window and the DXF note say which inside radius had no row and which K it used, so you can add a row for it.
Where It Is Kept
- Signed in, the table is kept with your account. It follows you to every part and every computer. Saving it never changes a model.
- Not signed in, it is kept in this browser only, and the window says so. Sign in to keep it with your account.
- If Shop table has rows, the flat pattern window starts on Shop table. You can still choose another Method for one export.
CSV Import and Export
- Export CSV saves the rows shown as shop-bend-table.csv, which a spreadsheet opens. With no rows it is a blank file with the column names, ready to fill in.
- Import CSV... reads a CSV file with six columns in this order: material, thickness, inside radius, k-factor, bend allowance 90, unit. A first line of column names is skipped. Fill in the k-factor or the bend allowance on each line, not both. A line with an empty unit is read as mm, and the message after the import says how many lines that was. Cells may also be split by semicolons.
- An import replaces the rows shown. Nothing is kept until you press Save, so Cancel puts the table back as it was.
- An import is all or nothing: if one line is wrong, nothing is read and the message names the line and what is wrong.
Limits
- Up to 200 rows, and a CSV file of up to 64 KB.
- Material: up to 40 letters. It may not start with = + - or @ (a spreadsheet would run it as a formula), and may not hold invisible or text direction characters.
- Numbers are plain: 1.5, 0.06, .5 or a fraction such as 1/16. No minus signs, no letters. A mixed number such as 1 3/8 or 1-3/8 is not read, and the message says so; type 1.375.
- Every number is kept to 9 decimals, so 1/3 is kept as 0.333333333 and comes back the same way.
- Thickness from 0.01 mm up to 50 mm (about 2 in). Inside radius from 0 up to 500 mm. K-factor from 0 to 1. Bend allowance over 0 and up to 1000 mm.
Tips and Common Problems
- The window says no shop row matches. Check the material name, and the unit of the row: a row in inches with 2 for the thickness means 2 inches.
- Refused: a row means a K-factor outside 0 to 1. That row's bend allowance does not fit this sheet. It is usually in the wrong unit, or is for another angle or radius. Fix the row, or choose K-factor.
- Your shop table could not be loaded. The connection failed. Press Edit shop table... to try again; until then choose another Method.
- Save is refused. The message names the row and what is wrong; fix it and press Save again. A row with nothing typed in it is left out.
- Esc, Cancel, the x or a click outside closes the table without saving.
Bend Profiles
The Shop bend table is part of Shop default. A profile of your own has its own bend rows in Bend Settings, used when you choose it in the Bend profile list; see Bend Settings and Machine Profiles.