Sheet metal inquiry

Intro

One of the key constraints of this type of manufacturing is that there can only be one axis of curvature. Another way to think of it is to try imagining creating a complex curve with sheet metal. You will be plagued with wrinkling etc. which, in the case of this mold, would entirely destroy its purpose.

Problem

Our roof panel has a slight secondary bend. It is not major but it is a consideration. If the bends are beyond what the sheet metal can handle, we will end up warping and wrinkling the sheet.

This secondary bend can be seen here, with units of mm. Basically, a grid was projected onto the roof panel and the vertical distance was measured between the nodes with respect to the center axis. The nodes are spaced 9cm apart from each other in both the “x and y” directions show.

Credit to @Mohamed Goha who put this together.

Approach

Contact relevant people, including manufacturers, engineering firms, faculty, machinists, etc. To see if we can converge on some kind of answer. Results will also be documented here

Email

[Insert Intro according to receiver]

We currently have a small problem with one of our molds and I wanted to get your thoughts on it so anything helps!

For context, we are trying to use a sheet metal mold for our roof panel. This will be composed of ribs, top surface sheet metal, and a base; as shown in the picture below.

Open

The top surface will either be welded or adhered to the ribs. However, on top of the primary/major axis of curvature, the mold will also have a slight secondary axis of curvature; with values shown below, that it will need to conform to.

INSERT PICTURE

This secondary bend can be seen here, with units of mm. Basically, a grid was projected onto the roof panel and the vertical distance was measured between the nodes with respect to the center axis. The nodes are spaced 9cm apart from each other in both the “x and y” directions show.

Our major concern is that the sheet metal may behave unpredictably when exposed to this kind of secondary bend; which would ruin the mold surface. The sheet is planned to be 1/16in but it can be made thinner if required.

I was wondering if you had any thoughts on this problem and potentially any other resources we could reference.

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