Posted by & filed under SolidWorks Sheet Metal.

Even the most simple looking products, can present a problem when you are trying to recreate the same geometry within SolidWorks. If you are well versed with SolidWorks Sheet Metal, the chair shown above, from Yanko Design, can be designed in several different manners, but if you’re new to sheet metal tools, this may provide a bit of a conundrum.

Because the part is self intersecting, the profile cannot be draw up in a single sketch. In my opinion, there are two simple methods in which to design this. You can draw the entire profile slightly modified, so that the profile does not self intersect, add a base flange, then add a bend and a few cuts to finish the part. The other option, and the one I chose, is to draw part of the profile to create a base flange from and then build off of that geometry. I wanted to use the side profile image of the chair to draw the profile, so this was the preferred method. The step by step tutorial can be seen below:



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