How to shift features on a plate?

Jim Canale

I'm working with a design which started as a sheet metal project.   I added raised, hollow bumps and cutouts to the structure, which made it a 3D solid that cannot be un-folded.   The bumps were pretty tricky to make.   The ACIS solids were then joined.    I  want to move the bumps, intact, a short distance in the X direction (red arrow).  How do I do this?   Is there a command to cut out a pane containing the bumps, move it a specified distance, and then rejoin them to the rest of the structure?   The drawing has been saved and I don't have any "UNDO" operations. 

Hans De Backer

You could try the following (try this on a copy first )

- create a box that contains the piece you want to move
- use the interfere command to create a solid that consists of the interference between the complex plate solid and the box
- subtract the box from the plate
- move the solid created by interference to the desired location
- pushpull faces to close gaps, or, if not possible, fill the gaps with extra pieces of plate, make sure everything at least 'touches' or overlaps
- union everything

Jim Canale

Very cool Hans....  Right before you replied, I figured out a way to do it, involving the array and "slice" tools.   It worked but it was too complicated.  I like your method much better.    I'm a little surprised though that BricsCAD doesn't have a "cookie cutter" to cut a rectangular or round piece from the structure. 

Dmitry Ushakov

Hello Jim,

BricsCAD now does not support bumps for sheet metal parts - that's why you cannot unfold your part, nor to move a bump along it.

To move a bump along the flat face, dissolve the flange feature (right click in the Mechanical Browser on "Flange_1" - or what is the name of your flange - and select "Dissolve"). After that you can move your bump along the flat face with DmMove command (just select one or more bump faces and run the command from the Quad menu).

Jim Canale

Thanks Dmitry.   As it happens I had already added other features to the design, which were not supported by BricsCAD's sheet metal tools.  I'm completing the design as a 3D object and let the fabrication facility create the developed (unfolded) blank.   This part is so complex that it cannot be fabricated by air bending.  Dies will have to be made.