Why Can't SWks Fold Plastic Hinges

Bonobo,

I have a "living hinge" that I made a while back. If you want to have a look
at it, go to this link:

Living_Hinge.SLDPRT (8115200 bytes) =>
https://www.onlinefilefolder.com/in...uggs828&hash=cc4c469fcbd35ea0ea48e0f529c7fd11


The link will expire in 3 days.
It isn't a perfect solution, but it's what I use for modeling purposes.

HTH,
Muggs

 

I took a look at your example, and indeed that is what we have to do by
hand to mock up a hinge, though I rarely do so many interim positions
between open & closed.

Given the purely mechanical nature of bending a hinge between 2 planes
about a fixed axis, for a given number of degrees, and the fact that
sheet metal does similar things, I am amazed SolidWorks has not put in
such a tool for visualization.

I don't know if it should be in an assembly drawing, or not, but it
should be available. Complex folding parts need to be checked both
open and closed and sometimes in between for fits and clearance, etc.

Bo