How to Use Bend Relief and Corner Relief Feature Operations in BricsCAD Mechanical

Quick answer: These operations use SMFLANGEEDGE, SMRELIEFCREATE, SMJUNCTIONSWITCH, and SMRELIEFSWITCH, confirming all four commands covered on this hub’s Sheet Metal Commands page. Reliefs prevent material tear when a sheet metal part is bent on a press brake. BricsCAD automatically creates every needed relief when a bend is created, whether implicitly or explicitly, so you generally don’t need to think about them, unless you’re reworking an existing, poorly designed part, in which case the dedicated tools become useful.

Corner Reliefs and Junctions

Creating a flange with SMFLANGEEDGE adjacent to a bend edge automatically creates a corner relief at the corner where three flanges meet, and a junction between the two flanges not connected by a bend, confirming exactly the same auto-creation behaviour covered on this hub’s Creating Flanges page.

Creating Missing Reliefs

1. Launch SMRELIEFCREATE via the Create Relief tool button on the Sheet Metal ribbon tab, the Sheet Metal menu, or the command itself. You’re prompted to select a hard edge, bend face, flange face, or 3D solid, or choose Entire model.
2. Select an item; you’re prompted to enter a relief size by bend radius ratio, or choose force Bend reliefs or Auto (the default).
3. Press Enter or right-click to accept the default ratio, or type a value and press Enter; the relief creates.

You can select a 3D solid carrying sheet metal features, a specific face, or a hard edge. To create a relief locally, select one or two hard edges, one or two bends, or a bend and a hard edge. Selecting a whole 3D solid makes the command recognize and automatically create every needed corner or bend relief; selecting two hard edges, two bends, or a bend and a hard edge at a corner makes it attempt a corner relief specifically.

The force Bend reliefs option forces creation of a bend relief even where one isn’t strictly needed, useful when a smooth geometric transition wouldn’t normally trigger one, but the geometry differs from a plain rectangular cut, forcing this option still creates a rectangular bend relief in that case.

Switching the Bend Relief Type

Bend reliefs switch between four types: Rectangular, Smooth, Round, and Rip.

A Rip relief has a very small width, 0.001 times the material thickness; to remove it completely, set its width to 0, which removes both the relief’s geometry and its feature entirely. Smooth, Round, and Rip types are only applicable when the current bend relief type is Rectangular.

Using the ribbon, menu, or toolbar:

1. Choose the desired relief type via the Relief dropdown in the Sheet Metal / Modify panel of the ribbon, a tool button on the SM Relief toolbar, or the Sheet Metal / Relief menu. You’re prompted to select faces or 3D solids to switch reliefs to, with options for RECtangular, CIrcular, V-type, SMooth, RIp, ROund, relief EXtension, or Entire model.
2. Press Enter to apply it to the entire model, or click a neighboring flange, bend, or bend relief face directly to convert just that one.
3. If launched from the Ribbon, the command repeats its main prompt until you press Esc to stop.

Using the Quad:

1. Hover over a neighboring flange, bend, or bend relief face (with Select Faces selected in SELECTIONMODES, it highlights directly; otherwise hold Ctrl while hovering until it highlights).
2. Choose the desired relief type in the Sheet Metal tab of the Quad menu.

Switching the Corner Relief Type

Corner reliefs switch between three types: Rectangular, Circular, and V-type.

Using the ribbon, menu, or toolbar:

1. Choose the desired relief type via the Relief dropdown in the Sheet Metal / Modify tab of the ribbon, a tool button on the SM Relief toolbar, or the Sheet Metal / Relief menu. You’re prompted the same way as bend reliefs above.
2. Press Enter to apply it to the entire model, or click a neighboring flange, bend, or corner relief face to convert just that one.
3. If launched from the Ribbon, the command repeats its main prompt until you press Esc to stop.

Using the Quad:

1. Make sure Select Faces is enabled in SELECTIONMODES.
2. Hover over a neighboring flange, bend, or corner relief face.
3. Choose the desired relief type in the Sheet Metal command group of the Quad menu.

Worth flagging: this page splits relief switching cleanly into bend reliefs (four types) and corner reliefs (three types) as separate operations, while the Sheet Metal Commands page described SMRELIEFSWITCH more generically, converting a corner relief into “one of six other types” (Circular, Rectangular, VType, Smooth, Round, or Rip) as a single combined list, a genuine categorization difference between the two sources worth being aware of rather than assuming they describe an identical structure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to manually create relief features every time I create a bend? No, BricsCAD automatically creates every needed relief when you create a bend, whether implicitly or explicitly; dedicated tools are mainly useful for reworking existing poorly designed parts.

How do I completely remove a Rip relief, including its geometry? Set its width to 0, which removes both the relief geometry and its feature entirely.

Can I switch a bend relief straight from Smooth to Round? No, Smooth, Round, and Rip types are only applicable when the current bend relief type is Rectangular.

What does the force Bend reliefs option actually do? It forces creation of a bend relief even in cases where one isn’t strictly needed, such as a smooth geometric transition, still producing a rectangular relief in that scenario.