Defining Part Thickness

'Thickness' is a part related parameter.

Use the Part Data tab of the Create Nesting Job dialog to view and edit all part related parameters.

In the Part Data tab, thickness of the Part is displayed in two areas:

1. The part thickness of all the parts in the Part List is displayed in the 'Thickness' column.
2. The thickness of the part highlighted in the Part List is displayed below the Part List in the field labeled 'Thickness'. This is also true for all other parameters.

Default Part Thickness

CAMWorksNesting extracts the part parameter of Thickness from the Solid Part/ sheet metal part and displays it in the Thickness field as default thickness for the part. To overwrite the default thickness and assign a user-defined thickness, enter the desired thickness value in the Thickness field.

Editing the Part Thickness in the Part List grid

1. In the Part list, highlight the part for which you  wish to edit the parameter.
2. For the highlighted part, double-click on the 'Thickness' column in the Part List.
3. Edit the value in the Thickness field as required.
4. If you try to assign an invalid value, a warning message will be displayed indicating to enter values between permissible limits. For example, if you try to enter a value below 0mm, the warning message will be displayed.
5. After assigning the value, click on the Tab button or any other parameter field to shift the focus. Observe that the 'Thickness' value for this part has changed accordingly in the Thickness field below the Part List for the edited part.

Editing the Part Thickness using the Thickness field  

1. In the Part list, highlight the part for which you  wish to edit the parameter.
2. The parameters for the highlighted part are displayed in the fields below the Part List. Edit the value in the Thickness field as desired.
3. You can use spin control to increase or decrease the Thickness value. Spin control increases the value in steps of +10 units and decreases it in steps of -10 units.
4. If you try to assign an invalid value, a warning message will be displayed indicating to enter values between permissible limits. For example, if you try to enter a value below 0mm, the warning message will be displayed.
5. After assigning the value, click on the Tab button or any other parameter field to shift the focus. Observe that the 'Thickness' value for this part has changed accordingly in the Part List.

Correlation between Part Thickness and Sheet Thickness

• In a nesting job, parts and sheets need to be of identical type. In other words, a part can only be nested  within a sheet if the 'Thickness' and 'Material' parameters of the part and sheet are identical to each other. For example, a part with a thickness of 10 mm and material 'steel' can only be nested  in sheet with the same material and thickness.
• CAMWorksNesting has a very useful feature which allows you to input parts and sheets with different materials and thicknesses for nesting. CAMWorksNesting will then internally nest appropriate parts on appropriate sheets. This will ease the efforts at your end to classify the parts and sheets while creating a nesting job.
• If multiple parts of varying materials or thicknesses are to be nested, then you need to define Multiple sheets in the Sheet Data tab of corresponding materials/ thickness in order to ensure that the parts are nested. Some intelligence is added in CAMWorksNesting such that it ensures all sheets with relevant materials and thicknesses are available for nesting all the parts in the assembly/ multi-part nesting.