Hopefully, if you have the occasion to use locking tabs in your die designs you’ve taken advantage of the automated Punch Locking Tab function in Logopress3. If you haven’t, make sure you search the Logopress3 help file for “Punch Locking Tab”.
I’ve just realized today that the help file doesn’t document how to use a Punch Locking Tab with a round punch yet. We’ll get that updated, in the meantime, here’s how:
You need to edit the round punch first and add a flat area to the outer diameter of the punch at the same radial position that you want the locking tab to be at. (You might find that using a 3 Point Center Rectangle in your sketch is efficient for this and then using a CutExtrude…) This flat area will be what you will pick for the “groove face” selection. This flat area can be either at the base of the punch or at the cutting end of the punch and can be as little as 0.001” deep(Sketch dimension) x 0.001” deep(CutExtrude dimension). (Hint – make the depth of the CutExtrude 0.376” deep so you have a nice big target to select for your second pick, which is the groove face. Then, after applying the locking tab, change the 0.376” dimension to 0.001”.)
LP3 How-To's for users
Punch Mismatches are one of many really cool and fast automation tools in Logopress3. But first of all, they need a little room in order to complete properly and secondly, they don’t like extra entities getting in their way.
Below are my personal preferred settings for my punch mismatches. If you work on thinner material most of the time or thicker material most of the time, you may want something different for your default sizes. (These Logopress3 options are found in the SolidWorks Options box at the very bottom, the button that says Third Party…)
Rule #1 for Punch Mismatches is that the first pick is on the line where you want the mismatch to cut into(99% of the time this is on the sketch line or arc that is touching the part as opposed to the one that is in the skeleton/scrap), and the second pick is the adjacent line. So after selecting a punch mismatch style #2 and picking the left hand line first and the top line second I end up with this:
That’s not what I wanted! I realize now that the construction line that is 0.050″ away from the top line got in the way of the automation that took place when the mismatch was getting automatically put in and trimmed. So what if that contruction line would have been 0.080″ away rather than 0.050″?
That’s better, but there’s still obviously a problem.
So what if that construction line was trimmed to the main line as show below?
See the picture below – THAT’S what I wanted!
Also, keep in mind that similar rules apply if you are trying to put a mismatch in at an area that is too small to fit the default mismatch sizes that are in your Logopress3 third party options settings. So if you are putting a mismatch into a tiny area you may need to go into your third party options and make the sizes (radii sizes and, in the case of mismatches #2 & #3 the length of straight areas) smaller…
LP3 How-To's for users