Sheetmetal Parts at Harris: Preparing Files for Fabrication

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This page documents how to prepare CAD-generated files for Sheet Metal Parts to have them fabricated at the Harris shop. Please carefully read the Fabrication page for the overall process of submitting parts to Harris! The steps here are a small subset of those overall instructions.


Check part's compliance with Harris rules

Verify first that the part has been set up to match Harris metal thickness and bend radius settings. You should've done this shortly after creating the part! See the requirements and instructions at Sheetmetal Parts at Harris.

Preparing files for Submission

We need two types of drawings for Harris:

  1. pdf
  2. dxf

pdf files – Step by Step Creation

  1. Open the “[year] Part and Assembly File Log” on the Google Drive ([year]/[year] Build Season folder) and sign up for the part drawing you are about to make.  Note, it must have a “Y” or “Yes” in the “Mentor approved to Make Drawing” column.
  2. Open Inventor – you will be using this as a tool to make the .pdf file. We do not need to send the Inventor .ipw file to Harris.
  3. Open the “[year] Drawing template” in the [year] Build Season (ROBOT)/06 Drawings folder and immediately do a SAVE AS, specifying an appropriate name for your part's drawing. If you SAVE A COPY AS instead of SAVE AS please remember you will need to then close the template and open your part drawing before changing anything in the file.
  4. Make the following edits to the basic drawing information:
    1. Fill in the Title Block:
      1. Title should match exactly the Part and Assembly File Log title beginning with the part number.
      2. Date:  This must be updated each time the part is sent – it tracks revisions.
      3. Name of student
      4. Name of mentor who has reviewed the drawing.
    2. Edit the text in the lower right:
      1. Number of parts per robot
      2. Size of material using Harris standards (MUST conform to Harris-available sizes and should match your part's sheet metal settings, see Harris Sheetmetal Design considerations
    3. Open the model part file (it must be open to place it).
    4. Check that the model file has sheet metal defaults as follows:
      1. Unfold rule is “Harris Shop”
      2. Thickness is a Harris standard (see Harris Sheetmetal Design considerations).
    5. Place views as you normally would to best represent the part.  Include an ISOMETRIC view.
    6. Dimension Overall length, width and height of the part
    7. Dimension all hole diameters:
      1. Precision to three places
      2. For holes of the same size in the same area, use the “x 4” type of notation to indicate multiple hole locations
      3. Do not dimension rivet holes
      4. Do not dimension parts with excessive amounts of holes (check with a mentor)
    8. Dimension each bend – height and angles (other that 90 degrees)
    9. Save the drawing (.idw) to the 06 Drawings folder
  5. Save the drawing as a .pdf file:
    1. EXPORT as a PDF
    2. Save it to the 06 Drawings/HARRIS PDF DXF FILES folder
    3. When sent to Harris, they will be moved into a “sent [date]” folder.


.dxf Files – Step by Step Creation

  1. Start a new standard .idw file in Inventor. If possible, pick one with no border!!!
  2. If there is a border: Delete the border and any other lines on the sheet before proceeding.
  3. Go to BASE, select the model file, and place the “Flat Pattern” view on the sheet.
    • If it says it is not available, go to the model file and create the flat (unbent) view of the part.
    • Make sure your scale is 1:1
    • Adjust sheet size as needed so that the entire part is on the sheet.
  4. Save the drawing:
    1. Go to SAVE A COPY AS and change the “file types” to .dxf
    2. Click the “OPTIONS” button to the left of SAVE
    3. The OPTIONS menu will appear.  Click on the drop down menu called “File Versions” and select “AutoCAD 2000/LT2000 DXF”.
    4. Without changing any other settings, click “Next” and then click Finish”
    5. Save it in the 06/Drawings/HARRIS PDF DXF file.
  5. Open AutoCAD and do the following:
    1. Open the .dxf file you just made.  You may need to change file type to .dxf to see your file
    2. Delete any dashed bend lines (click on the line with the mouse and hit the delete button).
    3. Save the file – Be sure to keep the same version:  “AutoCAD 2000/LT2000 DXF” from the drop down menu.
  6. Update Part & Assembly File Log on Google Drive
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