How to Use the Mechanical Browser for Sheet Metal in BricsCAD Mechanical

Quick answer: The Mechanical Browser panel is a centralized place to view and modify properties of every sheet metal entity and feature, confirming the same panel covered elsewhere in this hub. Open it with MECHANICALBROWSEROPEN, or right-click a ribbon panel or toolbar and choose Mechanical Browser from the Panels list.

The Sheet Metal Context

If a drawing contains sheet metal features, the root node’s properties include a Sheet metal section, also called the Sheet metal context. It’s created the moment the first sheet metal part appears in the document, initialized from Initial parameters. For typical creation workflows, see this hub’s Sheet Metal Design Methods page.

Assign a local context to a specific part by setting Context type to Context for solid, letting you define different design parameters and thickness for it independently.

Global vs Local Context: The Three Property Groups

• Thickness: controls the material thickness of sheet metal solids.
• Modeling: serves two roles. First, it provides default settings for sheet metal commands (SMFLANGEBASE, SMEXTRUDE, SMFLANGEEDGE, SMFLANGEBEND, SMLOFT, SMCONVERT) in a newly created model, saved with the drawing, useful for building DWT templates per sheet metal model type across a company. Second, new features generally derive their properties from this section, a bend feature’s Radius Type defaults to Use global value, for example, so changing the Bend radius in the Sheet metal context updates the radius of every bend feature deriving from it, a way to change sheet metal properties globally.
• Unfolding: lists properties for SMUNFOLD, SMEXPORT2D, and SMASSEMBLYEXPORT, confirming exactly the same three commands covered on this hub’s Sheet Metal Commands and Toolbars page.

The Sheet metal context removes once every feature in the document has been dissolved with SMDISSOLVE. Note: simply erasing every sheet metal part (rather than dissolving their features) keeps the context in place, even with no sheet metal solids or features left in the drawing.

Switching Context from Global to Local

1. Select the body in the Mechanical Browser panel.
2. In the Sheet Metal section, switch Context Type from Global context to Context for solid.

SMCONVERT automatically switches certain contexts to local when multiple inputs with different thicknesses are involved.

Working with Features

Every feature of a sheet metal part lists in the Mechanical Browser; selecting one highlights its faces in the model area, letting you locate it on the part and see its specific properties (selecting a bend feature, for example, displays a Bend properties section).

Sheet Metal Properties

The panel gives quick access to operations for sheet metal features, with available operations changing based on the selected feature type. See this hub’s separate Sheet Metal Global and Feature Properties article for the full property reference.

Understanding the Difference Between Disable, Dissolve, and Delete

Dissolve: right-click a feature and choose Dissolve to remove it from the part while keeping its geometry, but any design intent, the spatial and parametric relationships between its faces, gets removed too.

Disable: temporarily ignores a feature without removing it. It stays visible in the Mechanical Browser, and the part behaves as though it were dissolved, but unlike dissolving, it keeps updating with geometry changes and can be re-enabled anytime, no need to recreate it or run SMCONVERT again.

Delete: certain sheet metal features support this directly in the Mechanical Browser, functioning like SMDELETE. The feature disappears from the browser entirely, and the geometry updates according to that feature type’s specific behaviour.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens to a sheet metal feature’s design intent if I dissolve it? Its geometry stays, but the spatial and parametric relationships between its faces get removed permanently.

How do I temporarily ignore a feature without losing the ability to bring it back exactly as it was? Use Disable instead of Dissolve, it stays visible in the browser, keeps updating with geometry changes, and can be re-enabled anytime without recreating it.

Does erasing every sheet metal part in a drawing remove the Sheet metal context too? No, only dissolving every feature with SMDISSOLVE removes it; simply erasing the parts leaves the context in place.

Why would SMCONVERT automatically switch a part’s context to local? When multiple inputs with different thicknesses are involved, it switches certain contexts to local automatically to accommodate that variation.