Tube Bending

Your tube bender needs one number before they can key anything into the CNC machine: the developed length, also called the cut length — the stock length of straight tube that goes in and produces your bent part when it comes out. Give them the wrong number and you are either scrapping material or re-cutting after the fact. SolidWorks weldments give you a length. The question is what that length actually represents, and when it matches what the bender needs. ...

A fabricator running a CNC tube laser — Trumpf TruLaser Tube, BLM LT-Free, Mazak FT-150 — expects the DXF cope geometry to land flush against the mating tube. When it doesn’t, someone grinds. When it really doesn’t, the joint gets welded with a visible gap, weakening the bead and failing inspection. The problem starts in SolidWorks before the export ever happens. How SolidWorks Models Weldment Tubes The SolidWorks Weldment feature builds structural members by sweeping a 2D profile sketch along a 3D path. The profile is constant — it maintains its exact shape and size throughout the entire sweep. When two members intersect, SolidWorks trims them automatically to create the cope (the curved notch that allows one tube to seat against another). ...