How to Use Sheet Metal Global and Feature Properties in BricsCAD Mechanical

Quick answer: The Mechanical Browser panel controls both global properties and feature-specific settings for sheet metal parts. Clicking the root node shows the entire drawing’s properties, often called the global Sheet metal context, shared by every sheet metal part by default. This confirms and expands the concepts covered on this hub’s Mechanical Browser for Sheet Metal page.

Global Properties

General: Thickness (global material thickness); Bend radius (default bend radius, changeable per bend, as a thickness ratio or absolute value); Sharp bend radius limit (the maximum radius still counted as a sharp/regular bend, used by SMCONVERT and SMRELIEFCREATE to distinguish regular from lofted bends); Lofted bend subdivisions (default subdivision count for unfolded lofted bends).

Reliefs: Bend relief width (cut width near a single bend); Relief extension (size of a bend or corner relief extension); Corner relief diameter (default circular corner relief diameter, minimal possible or absolute).

Junctions and Miters: Junction gap (gap between two adjacent flanges); Junction alignment (aligns junction faces with corresponding corner relief faces, enabled or disabled); Miter gap (gap between thickness faces of a flange or adjacent bend when splitting, see SMSPLIT); Miter extension (controls the depth cut of an adjacent flange during a flange split).

Beads: Bead profile radius (radius of the tool creating the bead); Bead round radius (fillet radius between flange and bead); Bead fillet radius (radius of the bead control curve’s filleting, see this hub’s separate article on form and bead features).

Tabs: Tab slot number; Tab height; Tab distance; Tab length; Tab clearance; Tab edge type (Sharp, Round, requiring a Tab round radius type and value, or Chamfer, requiring a Tab chamfer distance type and value).

Hems and Jogs: Open hem gap; Jog radius; Jog height; Jog angle.

Unfolding: Default K-Factor (for a bend radius equal to the thickness, see this hub’s separate K-factor article); Hem relative bend deduction (bend deduction relative to thickness, used in hem unfolding); Bend table (opens a dialog to load bend tables from CSV, see this hub’s separate Bend Table article); Bend line extent (how far a bend line extends beyond the unfolding boundary, zero or negative values allowed); Form feature unfolding mode (Keep, Remove, Project, Contour, Symbol, Project without center mark, or Contour without center mark); Bevel unfolding mode (Keep, Remove, or Annotate, recommended, which removes the bevel and annotates the edge instead, see this hub’s separate Working with Bevels article).

Feature Properties

Selecting a feature in the Mechanical Browser automatically displays its properties. Every feature shares a Name property (defaulting to its type plus an increment, Flange_1, Flange_2, and so on).

• Flange: Thickness (read-only, matching the component’s thickness property).
• Bend: Angle (changeable via SMFLANGEROTATE, confirming that command exactly against this hub’s Sheet Metal Commands page); Radius; Radius type (Thickness ratio, Absolute value, or Use global value); Neutral Surface (Global, using the root context’s bend table or computed K Factor; or overridden directly via K Factor, Bend Allowance, Bend Deduction, or Bend Table).
• Bend relief: Relief type (rectangular, smooth, round, or rip); Width (global, thickness ratio, or absolute).
• Corner relief: Relief type (rectangular 2 bends, rectangular, v-type, or circular); Width.
• Junction: Junction gap; Junction gap type; Connection type (symmetric or adjacent to one flange); Junction alignment (global, enabled, or disabled).
• Miter: Miter gap; Type (thickness ratio or absolute).
• Form: Component name; Parameters (for parametric form features).
• Bevel: Bevel type (one-side, land, X-, or K-bevel, altering which parameters appear); Side bevel parameters; Orthogonal bevel parameters.

Feature Context Menus

Right-click any feature for its context menu.

Common tools, available for every feature type: Disable (temporarily disables the feature, skipping its constraining); Dissolve (removes the feature but keeps its geometry, discarding its design intent); Delete (functions like SMDELETE, removing the feature from the browser and its geometry from the model), these three confirm exactly the Disable/Dissolve/Delete distinction covered on this hub’s Mechanical Browser for Sheet Metal page; plus Zoom to, Collapse all, and Expand all.

Feature-specific options:

• Flange: Flip (swaps the reference face to the opposite side, shifting the flange by its thickness to preserve the reference face’s position).
• Bend: Switch to junction, tab, or lofted bend.
• Lofted Bend: Switch to junction or bend.
• Wrong Bend: Repair feature (creates a proper bend feature if possible).
• Bend Relief: Switch to smooth, round, or rip.
• Corner Relief: Switch to V-type or circular.
• Junction: Switch to bend or rib; Switch type (toggles between symmetrical and aligned with one flange).
• Miter: no feature-specific options beyond the common tools.
• Form: Select same feature (all form features of that type); Explode to flanges and bends (where possible); Repair feature (recalculates the insertion point); Replace… (opens a dialog to choose a replacement).
• Tab: Switch to bend or junction.
• T-junction: Switch to T-tab.
• T-tab: Switch to T-Junction.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between the Bend feature’s Angle and Radius properties? Angle is the bend’s current angle, changeable via SMFLANGEROTATE; Radius is its bend radius, configurable as a thickness ratio, absolute value, or inherited global value.

Which global property controls whether SMCONVERT treats a bend as regular or lofted? Sharp bend radius limit, the maximum radius still counted as a sharp (regular) bend.

What happens if I choose the “Annotate” bevel unfolding mode? Each bevel feature is removed, and its edge gets annotated instead, the recommended approach.

Can I convert a Tab feature directly into a Junction feature without deleting and recreating it? Yes, right-click it and choose Switch to junction from its context menu.