Mold + Panel Geometry Design Problem
- Min Qian Lu (Deactivated)
The Problem
As per the original Aluminum Sheet Metal Mold confluence page, the following is a requirement
“A limiting factor is that the panel can only have a bend in one axis. Panels with complex surfaces such as side panels, cannot be manufactured in this way as they would need to be stamped and cannot rely on gravity to form the sheet.”
This means that all cross-sections in the highlighted plane must be rectangular.
In this screenshot, it can be seen in the top right and left corners, the panel blends under the grey mold - which was created using the above “rectangular cross-sections” methodology. This means that the current roof panel, near the front, does not have a rectangular cross-section.
Potential Solutions
These are just basic outlines/approaches. Details will be added.
Modify ribs (@Mohamed Goha @Min Qian Lu (Deactivated) )
In this solution, the same concept as before will be used. The rib shapes will be used to dictate the geometry of the top surface. This will likely require thinner sheet metal in some places to allow for easier bending and could very well end up in geometries that are conducive to wrinkling the top surface.
To do this, there will be more ribs added to the “curved cross-section” areas.
Modify top surface (@Aidan Lehal @Salman Rasheed )
This method entails using an “ideal” mold geometry. This means a mold that has only a curve in one direction. Then we can use a supplementary material, such as foam, on the top surface to pad up to the correct geometry.
Change roof panel geometry to match the mold geometry (@Abdelrahman Hassouneh (Unlicensed) )
Roof panel geometry changes to what the ideal mold geometry. This method is currently more at an evaluation stage - seeing whether or not tossing the roof geometry out can be solved using onsite patch work or not. For example, finding out what the largest gaps are using the ideal mold geometry. If the gaps are too large, then we know we must go with options 1 or 2.