The SolidWorks sheet metal tools was one of my favoirte areas to explore with my students. There was such a look of amazement between the formed and flat states. Although my school did not have any sheet metal forming or braking equipment, I had my students trace a cereal box, dimension, and recreate the pattern in SolidWorks with both the form and flat version – then figure out the size of a carton to ship them in. There was an art part of the project too – they had to come up with a prototype for a new concept cereal. Then of course – there was a field trip to a sheet metal manufacturer. For my students, it was the first time they experienced such large manufacturing operations.
My friend, Patrick Haley, has taken SolidWorks sheetmetal for students to a new level by adding excitement with his new SolidWorks sheetmetal rocket tutorial. The parts, assemblies, and drawings with movie files are available for your students too. If projects involving projectiles, students are happy. Marie