Coil Material Stock Options
The Coil Material Stock process provides the following setup options:
Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout: 1 Out
By default aPriori evaluates the cost of performing Offline Blanking with a 1-out layout only. You can override the default, and tell aPriori to evaluate the cost of other layouts as well by selecting Yes for one or more of the Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout… setup options. aPriori will choose the lowest-cost layout.
If you do not want a 1-out layout to be considered, select No for this setup option.
If you are using Rectangular Nesting (see Material Utilization and Part Nesting for Hydroforming), and you select Yes for this option, all Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout: 2 Out… setup options must be set to No (or the part will fail to cost).
Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout: 2 Out, Non-interlocking, Mirrored
By default aPriori evaluates the cost of performing Offline Blanking with a 1-out layout only. You can override the default, and tell aPriori to evaluate the cost of other layouts as well by selecting Yes for one or more of the Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout… setup options. aPriori will choose the lowest-cost layout.
Select Yes for this setup option to include evaluation of a 2-out, non-interlocking, mirrored layout. See Interlocking and Non-interlocking Layouts.
If you are using Rectangular Nesting (see Material Utilization and Part Nesting for Hydroforming), and you select Yes for this option, Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout: 1 Out must be set to No (or the part will fail to cost).
Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout: 2 Out, Non-interlocking, Rotated
By default aPriori evaluates the cost of performing Offline Blanking with a 1-out layout only. You can override the default, and tell aPriori to evaluate the cost of other layouts as well by selecting Yes for one or more of the Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout… setup options. aPriori will choose the lowest-cost layout.
Select Yes for this setup option to include evaluation of a 2-out, non-interlocking, rotated layout. See Interlocking and Non-interlocking Layouts.
If you are using Rectangular Nesting (see Material Utilization and Part Nesting for Hydroforming), and you select Yes for this option, Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout: 1 Out must be set to No (or the part will fail to cost).
Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout: 2 Out, Interlocking, Mirrored
By default aPriori evaluates the cost of performing Offline Blanking with a 1-out layout only. You can override the default, and tell aPriori to evaluate the cost of other layouts as well by selecting Yes for one or more of the Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout… setup options. aPriori will choose the lowest-cost layout.
Select Yes for this setup option to include evaluation of a 2-out, interlocking, mirrored layout. See Interlocking and Non-interlocking Layouts.
If you are using Rectangular Nesting (see Material Utilization and Part Nesting for Hydroforming), and you select Yes for this option, Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout: 1 Out must be set to No (or the part will fail to cost).
Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout: 2 Out, Interlocking, Rotate
By default aPriori evaluates the cost of performing Offline Blanking with a 1-out layout only. You can override the default, and tell aPriori to evaluate the cost of other layouts as well by selecting Yes for one or more of the Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout… setup options. aPriori will choose the lowest-cost layout.
Select Yes for this setup option to include evaluation of a 2-out, interlocking, mirrored rotated. See Interlocking and Non-interlocking Layouts.
If you are using Rectangular Nesting (see Material Utilization and Part Nesting for Hydroforming), and you select Yes for this option, Evaluate Strip Nesting Layout: 1 Out must be set to No (or the part will fail to cost).
Blank Pitch
Blank pitch is the extent of the flat pattern (with addendum, if any) along the direction of coil flow for offline blanking, supplemented by the part spacing width. By default, this is calculated using aPriori’s strip nesting algorithm. The default value is the sum of the following:
• Extent of the flat pattern (with addendum, if any) in the direction of coil flow, when best nested (as determined by the aPriori strip nesting algorithm)
• Part Spacing Width
You can override the default with this option, which affects both material utilization and tooling sizes and costs. It is your responsibility to ensure that the overrides have legal results, for example, that the resulting blanks do not overlap.
Select one of the following options:
• Default: calculated by aPriori (as described above)
• User Override: enter a value in millimeters or inches that is greater than or equal to 1.0 mm.
Coil Width
Coil width is determined by the extent of the flat pattern (with addendum, if any) in the direction perpendicular to the coil flow for offline blanking, supplemented by edge margins, as well as (for 2-out parts) part spacing width. By default, this is calculated using aPriori’s strip nesting algorithm.
The default value for a 1-out layout is the sum of the following:
• Extent of the flat pattern (with addendum, if any) in the direction perpendicular to the coil flow, when best nested (as determined by the aPriori strip nesting algorithm)
• 2 * Edge Margin Width
The default value for a 2-out layout is the sum of the following:
• 2 * Extent of the flat pattern (with addendum, if any) in the direction perpendicular to the coil flow, when best nested (as determined by the aPriori strip nesting algorithm)
• 2 * Edge Margin Width
• Part Spacing Width
You can override the default with this option, and specify a larger coil width. Coil width affects material utilization and tooling sizes and costs.
Edge Margin Width
This option specifies the width of the extra space between the coil edge and the flat pattern. In aPriori starting point VPEs, the default value is 1.5 times the material thickness. VPE administrators can customize the thickness multiplier with the cost model variable defaultEdgeMarginWidthMultiplier.
Select one of the following options:
• Default: in aPriori starting point VPEs, the default value is 1.5 times the material thickness. VPE administrators can customize the thickness multiplier with the cost model variable defaultEdgeMarginMultiplier.
• User Override: enter a value greater than or equal to 0.
Part Spacing Width
Width of extra space between adjacent blanks. This value specifies both the distance between blanks in the coil pitch direction, as well as the distance in the coil width direction between rows of a 2-out layout. In aPriori starting point VPEs, the default value is 1.5 times the material thickness. VPE administrators can customize the thickness multiplier with the cost model variable defaultPartSpacingMultiplier
Select one of the following options:
• Default: in aPriori starting point VPEs, the default value is 1.5 times the material thickness. VPE administrators can customize the thickness multiplier with the cost model variable defaultPartSpacingMultiplier.
User Override: enter a value greater than or equal to 0.
Width of Addendum Added to Blank Size
This is the width of an offset to be added all around the perimeter of the flattened part. You can enter a non-zero value in order to do one of the following:
• Add additional material for the purpose of holding the blank during the forming process, which is subsequently trimmed away.
• Compensate for cases in which aPriori underestimates flattened blank size, for example, for highly deformed parts.
Select one of the following options:
• Let aPriori Decide: this is the default, computed based on form depth and edge tolerance, using the lookup table blankAddendumWidth. See below.
• No Addendum: addendum size is set to 0.
• User Override: enter a value greater than or equal to 0.
If you choose Let aPriori Decide, aPriori adds addendum in all the following cases:
• Deep-draw part: the current routing is a deep draw routing (the CSL code checks for the existence of a node in the current routing with a deepDrawFormed attribute).
• Formed Fluid-cell part: the current routing is a fluid cell routing and the part has at least one significant form whose Sub Type is EMBOSS. An emboss form is considered significant if it takes up a sufficient fraction of the main surface (that is, if the product of the emboss’s SER Length and SER Width is greater than the product of the main surface’s Convex Hull Area and the cost model variable mainSurfAreaMultiplier—0.75 in starting point VPEs).
• Tight-tolerance edge: at least one blank edge has tolerance less than the cost model variable looseEdgeToleranceThreshold (2mm in starting point VPEs).
The width of the addendum is looked up by aggregate form depth (excluding forms of type CURVED_BEND) in the lookup table blankAddendumWidth. For folded parts (those with no significant emboss) that have tight tolerance, aPriori chooses the smallest addendum listed in blankAddendumWidth.
Aggregate form depth is the sum of the depths of all forms whose Sub Type is not CURVED_BEND. Each form’s depth is the value of the property Depth Up or Depth Down, whichever is nonzero.
Note that when an addendum is present (whether calculated or user-specified), aPriori adds a secondary Machining operation, Profile Trimming on the 5-Axis Mill, which trims the addendum off. If no addendum is present, Blanking is assumed to provide the final shape.
Interlocking and Non-interlocking Layouts
Double-row blank layouts can be either interlocking or non-interlocking. With non-interlocking layouts, the rows do not overlap in the width direction, that is, there is a line along the coil pitch direction such that one row is entirely above the line and the other row is entirely below the line. The image below shows a rotated, non-Interlocking layout; the top row is entirely above the green line, and the bottom row is entirely below the green line:
With interlocking layouts, the rows can overlap in the coil width direction. The image below shows a rotated, interlocking layout; there is no line in the pitch direction such that the top row is entirely above the line and the bottom row is entirely below the line:
