Sheet Metal Base
At a glance
- Turn a closed sketch into a flat sheet-metal wall with a material and gauge
- Material presets: mild steel, 5052 / 6061 aluminum, 304 stainless, copper, galvanized — each with correct bend behavior
- Thickness lives on the body — change it once and every flange and bend updates
- K-factor from the preset, a single entered value, or strict per-part engineering mode
Sheet Metal Base is the starting point of every folded part: pick a closed sketch profile, choose a material and thickness, and it becomes a flat wall of that gauge. The material and thickness are properties of the body, so everything you fold off it later inherits them automatically.
Bend accuracy
Flat lengths are computed with real bend allowances. Drive them from the material preset, from a
single K-factor you enter, or use the engineering mode that requires an explicit K-factor per part
for production-critical work. Thickness accepts expressions and units like any other dimension
(0.06in, 1.5mm) and honors your preferred units.
Sheet-metal parts are first-class bodies: sketch on them, cut and join extrusions through them, fillet them — and every feature stays editable in the history, so changing a base thickness days later rebuilds the whole part. When it's ready to cut, develop it with Flat Pattern.