look over this simple drawing of a sheet metal design that I am about to have made.

I am making my truck a little more secure by making a cage that will fit within the truck. I will be having made three sides of sheet metal and the forth will be the opening with a lockable door. The cade material or door is not included in these images.

The sheet metal is just a extension of the cage material that I found for free. The bottom of the cage is a round tube and will be welded to the top edge of the sheet metal on the center point.

In this drawing, it will only show you the left panel that will be mounted on the left side of the truck. The right panel can be mirrored and could do the same for another autocad sketch.

I set the limits on the drawing to the upper right corner of the box the drawing is in. The issue arises when I goto layout mode. The drawing is almost off the scale. What can be done about this? I set limits to 100.000,55.0000

Thanks

Left_right_side_cage.dwg

It might help if you had a "normal" scale assigned to the viewport in your layout. Try a scale of 1"=1' and lock the display because as soon as you pop back into your viewport and start moving around you'll most likely inadvertantly change it.

Take a closer look - your dimensions don't add up and you are missing a dimension for the location of the rectangular cut.

You are going to have to figure out how you want that corner done.

Well, I'm a bit surprised that you didn't come back and ask a few questions but I'll answer the questions you didn't ask.

You drawing has the part with 0 radius right angle bends. Of course that isn't possible. Model it up as a 3D model and then dimension. I did it in Inventor which also calculates Bend Allowance (see Machinerys' Handbook) - probably a bit more than you need as your part wouldn't have a close tolerance. Do the 3D and the shop guys will figure out the flat pattern needed to get your finished dimensions.

BTW - I turned off Limits round about 1995 or so. Computers were fast enough that no longer needed.

question about radius bends.

What should be the minimum radius bend a sheet metal brake and make for a particular thickness of sheet metal?

I got a quote of 85 dollars per side and 75 dollars for welding these two pieces to the cage material.

Lastly, is my parts layout correct? Is there a set way to show off a part? example

..............................

. .

.front | perspective .

. .

. .

. top | right .

. .

..............................

Lastly, What command in 2002 is used to show perspective like in the image above and can I set the background to blue? Seems easier on the eyes then white on back.

As far as the corner is concerned, its not a concern. It is just a cage. The folds will be welded.

But again, this is just a learning lesson in auto-cad. I am sure if some one else wanted it done, it would have to be done a little more precise.

Options - Display tab - Colors might help you with the background. I'm not using 2002 but I don't think that part changed.

I think the perspective you refer to is the 3d drawing that JD did. As yours is probably 2d it won't much matter, but probably View pulldown menu, isometric views.

question about radius bends.

 

What should be the minimum radius bend a sheet metal brake and make for a particular thickness of sheet metal?

 

Minimal radius for bend is thickness of material and it is inside radius.

Okay found this thread. No rectangular cut was ever included and never saw one as I build this part. Not sure how I did not see it. Thanks for the feedback JD. Still learning and getting more comfortable with auto-cad. I wonder if there is a way to show where welds can be included in the model? Was thinking of stitch welding. The cage pieces are not included in this model because thay were found left over material used as heavy Gage metal displays. Those pieces will be welded to the left and right sides, and rear piece.

Any good mechanical drafting book will have weldment symbology included. You can probably find welding symbols on line too.