3D sheet metal fabrication

Alibre and the Amada Company have entered into a multi-year relationship that will see CAD vendor Alibre's 3D parametric modelling software bundled with machine tool vendor Amada's production sheet metal fabrication machines. Products are planned for release later this year.

Alibre and Amada expect that the primary beneficiaries of their 3D-based solutions will be the majority of sheet metal fabricators who currently use 2D almost exclusively.

According to the two companies, while many popular solid modelling vendors have offered sheet metal design features for years, virtually all of them rely on simplistic unfolding algorithms that do not reflect the true capabilities of the machine tool.

As a result, sheet metal fabricators typically redesign 3D models in 2D to allow them to develop the correct flat patterns that enable the most efficient fabrication of the part.

This widespread regeneration of data leads to inefficiencies in the product development process, resulting in production delays, decreased quality and increased cost as errors are inadvertently introduced.