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In order to improve the quality and efficiency of sheet metal design and manufacture, the research and application of UG software in sheet metal CAD/CAM/CAE are introduced.

With the continuous development of mechanical design automation, CAD/CAE/ CAM integration software emerges one after another, UG software is one of them. UG software can integrate the whole process of mechanical design and production together. It changes the traditional design concept through a unique parametric and part-oriented 3D solid model design and manufacturing technology, and provides us with a more intuitive, more effective, faster and faster design approach.

In mechanical manufacturing, UG software can be used to create solid parts model and assembly modeling, it has motion simulation function, virtual assembly function, engineering drawing function, advanced numerical control function, etc. In the design process, finite element analysis, mechanism motion analysis, dynamic analysis and simulation can be carried out to improve the reliability of the design. In this paper, only UG software in the sheet metal design and manufacture of the application of a preliminary discussion.

1 Overview of sheet metal manufacturing

Sheet metal parts are parts with certain shape, size and performance obtained by stamping process. Because cold stamping process has the advantages of high yield and mass production, sheet metal parts are widely used in aerospace, automobile, shipbuilding, machinery, chemical industry, grain processing machinery and other industries, and gradually become an important part of the current parts processing industry.

The traditional design method of sheet metal parts is that sheet metal engineers conceive three-dimensional products in the brain, and then through the geometric projection of the brain, the products are expressed in two-dimensional drawings. Most of the workload of engineers is in the mutual conversion of three-dimensional entities and two-dimensional engineering drawings and cumbersome look-up tables and calculations. And the manufacturing workers have to reflect the two-dimensional pattern in the brain of three-dimensional entities and then processing-marking (lofting) cutting, forming, connecting and assembling, time-consuming and laborious. If CAD and CAM are applied to sheet metal parts manufacturing, especially UG software is applied to sheet metal parts design and manufacturing, sheet metal parts design can be very fast and manufacturing assembly efficiency can be significantly improved.

2UG software applied to sheet metal parts design and manufacture of the main steps

2.1 Design of sheet metal parts

The original impulse of man in designing parts is three-dimensional, and the result of design implementation is a three-dimensional entity with associated concepts such as color, material, hardness, shape, size, position, related parts, manufacturing process, etc. However, in traditional design, the information transmission between the two is all two-dimensional graphic expression. Due to the limited means of the past, people had to agree on the expression rules of two-dimensional views parallel to orthographic projection in the first quadrant (the third quadrant in the United States), and expressed their three-dimensional assumptions with a limited number of associated two-dimensional projections. This kind of information expression is extremely incomplete, and drawing and reading pictures must be carried out by specially trained people.

If the design can be started directly with 3D concept, especially with UG software, all geometric parameters of design idea can be expressed more intuitively and accurately, and the whole design process can be discussed completely on 3D model. UG software provides UG/Sheet Metal Design module, which can help sheet metal engineers to rationalize the design process by using the view of design and manufacturing, and gradually create sheet metal parts from the generation of sheet metal and the completion of each process.

It can be regarded as a virtual environment for machining sheet metal parts. Engineers can design and assemble parts directly on the computer screen. The manufacturing process of products is almost the same as the real manufacturing process. The products on the computer screen are the three-dimensional images of future products. The network router chassis parts shown in Figure 1 are designed with UG/Sheet Metal Design.

Figure 1 Network router chassis parts diagram

After a single sheet metal part is designed, the three-dimensional model of multiple parts can be simulated and assembled, and each part in the assembly model is related. If a part in the assembly model is modified, other parts will be modified automatically, thus greatly shortening the design and processing cycle of the product and improving the accuracy of product design.

2.2 Unfolding of sheet metal parts

After the design of sheet metal parts is completed, in order to facilitate processing, it is necessary to convert it into an expanded drawing to determine the required sheet metal size and sheet metal shape. In the traditional sheet metal parts development, all through manual calculation based on experience. There are three disadvantages to this: ( 1 ) The workload is large and the deployment process is cumbersome. ( 2 ) Low efficiency, easy to make mistakes for general engineers when developing. ( 3 ) Low precision, most of the expansion is obtained by experience, resulting in a large amount of material and labor costs.

Automatic unfolding of sheet metal parts can be accomplished by using UG/Sheet Metal Design's automatic unfolding function in UG. The shape and size of the expanded sheet can be obtained by automatic calculation, so it has the advantages of high speed, high accuracy, zero error rate and simple operation. Figure 2 is an expanded view of the network router chassis in UG/Sheet Metal Design.

Figure 2. Deployment of router chassis

2.3 Simulation of sheet metal part machining process

Using UG/Sheet Metal Design module automatic development function and arbitrary change angle function, can simulate the processing of sheet metal parts, to determine the best manufacturing route of parts, complete the process analysis of parts. The selection of bending tools is completed during the simulation of the machining process.

2.4 Output of sheet metal part machining process

Using UG/Drafting module powerful drawing two-dimensional view function can be convenient, fast and accurate to draw a variety of required process drawings, convenient for the subsequent process of production and inspection. Due to UG's single database, 2D engineering drawings and 3D solid models are completely associated, such as changes in sheet metal modeling, 2D views automatically change accordingly, thus greatly improving the accuracy of 2D drawing paper and drawing efficiency.

2.5 sheet metal part layout

UG/Sheet Metal Nesting module can be used to optimize several kinds of parts on a blank. Users only need to provide the type of parts, the number of each part and the specifications of the sheet used, and the system can carry out "automatic layout" and select the best of different combination layouts. The module also optimizes the stamping process, reduces tool changes and minimizes sheet repositioning when stamping parts. Users can also layout directly on the sheet in an interactive graphical manner.

2.6 Compilation and Output of NC Machining Program for Sheet Metal Parts

UG/Manufacturing module provides a complete programming tool for programmers to choose from. These include two-axis to five-axis CNC milling, two-axis to four-axis CNC wire cutting, three-axis CNC EDM, turret multi-station stamping and other processing methods. Programmers can carry out NC programming according to the needs, using UG processing simulation module can be programmed for processing simulation, if the processing effect is not ideal, can be corrected in time, so as to obtain the most ideal processing effect.

2.7 NC Machining of Sheet Metal Parts

Using the corresponding post-processing file, the tool location file is transformed into NC code program which can be recognized by the machine tool, and input to the corresponding NC machine tool through the line interface to carry out NC machining of sheet metal parts.

3 Concluding remarks

( 1 ) Using UG software to design sheet metal parts can completely free engineers from the trouble of drawing parts and unfolding drawings, which is more intuitive and efficient than the traditional design process; ( 2 ) Using CAE module to analyze. Minimize design defects; ( 3 ) Use CAM modules. ( 4 ) UG software also provides data interface for AutoCAD and other software, so that these software can exchange data with UG. This article is from Yuyun Sheet Metal Software. For more details, please click: www.bjmes.cn

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