Square-toSquare

Square-TO-Square (STOS) first created 23/02/06 - last modified 02/04/12 Page Author: Ty Harness

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News: Twisted Square TO Square TSTOS development

Version 1.4 available form ShareIT.

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The square-to-square frustum is probably the most common sheet metal transformation. There are many applications: boxes, trays, moulds, hoppers, skips,etc. Trays and skips are very often tapered to allow for stacking and moulds for concrete lintels or fence posts are all slightly tapered to aid release.

If you're in the welding and fabrication industry then you've, probably already, made a 1000 hoppers because they are used absolutely everywhere. There are many occasions when you can weld all 4 corners and the full pattern development is not always required which means you don't really need this software. When the square-to-square is oblique it can be difficult to visualize, and this is when the software comes in handy. Give the software a go to see if it's of any use to you.

Like with all Ty Harness Sheet Metal applications, it's all about the speed of draughting. No one minds spending time on the initial design but the design revisions are lengthy, painful and costly so this tool really benefits the draughtsman when the engineer revises the elevation height for the fourth time in a week.

Figure 1a) Sceen shot from version 1.4 in Windows 7
1b) A simple hopper and a more unusual rectangle-to-rectangle twisted through 90 deg

The rectangle twisted through 90 degrees shown in Figure 1 is often used in combination with a slip piece to route a square duct behind another pipe. This is similar in principle to oval slip joints.

STOS tries to make the design of a square-to-square as easy as possible. From a geometric point you have to "marry" the dimensions to an existing structure or maybe you need to know the volume inside the frustum to find the concrete weight for a mould application.

Figure 2 - Stainless Steel bath made by CawMc Engineering Ltd. (Lincolnshire)
where the bath's internal volume was a key aspect of the design

Figure 4 - A trestle made by D&D Engineering (Lincolnshire) where the true lengths of the leg can be found from the software
and the key aspect of the design is the trestles are stackable.

Also, you may need to explain or visualize the hopper in 3D and the full version can create a 3D DXF (based on polyfaces) which is suited for import into CAD applications and the 3D VRML is suited for internet plugins which means your customer doesn't need a CAD system visualize the model.

Simple Hopper , More Complex design which is difficult to visualize in 2D <--- VRML of the above Square to Square designs (You'll need a VRML plugin for your browser like Cortona).

STOS is the first Ty Harness application to give the user more control over the pattern development. Typically the earlier applications could only produce a full pattern and now you can enter a start point and end point of the pattern i.e. the joint line.

The plan view is given a suitable labeling system (I use 0 as east going anticlockwise through 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) for the base square and the top square. I've also included mid points because you may prefer the joints to be in the face rather than on a corner but the software does not draw the mid point lines to avoid confusion with the bend lines, and that's also why I never show the triangulation lines.

Figure 5 - A full pattern starting at 0 and finishing at 8

From Figure 5, points 8 and 0 are really the same in 3D but when flattened onto the plane the joining points are assigned a new label: n+1. The n+1 point, in the case of STOS, is 8.

A square-to-square is one of those pattern developments where I would normally leave the joint on a corner (which is just my own personal preference) therefore I would start the pattern development at (say) point 1 - 1, as shown in figure 6.

Figure 6 - A full pattern starting at 1 and finishing on 8 (where 8 is really point 1 again)

You can reset the development to start from point 0 to the end point 8 by clicking the reset button or if you require a full pattern but starting at any other point then either type 1 - 1, 2 - 2, 3 - 3 etc. for the start - end points respectively or just click the full pattern button.

You also have the ability to create smaller patterns like half patterns or just a one sided pattern for the hopper. If it's a simple right hopper and you're prepared to make all 4 welds then the one sided pattern is the most economical because you can cut all 4 sides out of a parallel strip of material. [\/\/\]

Figure 7 a,b - Tapered stake socket - sometimes it's simpler to cut each side from a parallel strip

Figure 7 shows a tapered stake socket where a one sided pattern was used and all 4 sides were welded together. If a folding process had been chosen then a half pattern is generally chosen (as shown in Figure 8) for thick materials. For very thin sheet you can make a square-to-square from a full pattern using a press brake and sliding the work off the blade which is common with duct makers - watch your fingers!

Figure 8 - A half pattern starting from 0 and ending at 4.

One interesting application of the STOS is you can design a square-to-line or a square-to-point which is similar to roof geometry either gable ended or the more complex hipped style. Please note this software does not calculate purlings,braces and rafters just that you can save a 3D DXF or VRML and use the output to extend the design in different applications. You will need to know the volume of a roof space for a building regulations application and this software can calculate the internal volume.

Figure 9 - A gable ended roof - rectangle-to-line chisel point

Figure 10 - Using the 3D DXF export to create several roof styles

Again, it's so hard to visualize the roof without being able to spin it around and this is where the vrml plays an important role:
Hipped Roof Extension

This application may be useful for anyone interested in geometry and hopefully you'll be able to go on and extend the 3D models into more complex structures.

Minimum Specification
Version 1.4 and above is designed for XP,VISTA and W7. Earlier vserion are available for Windows 98SE, Windows Millennium, Windows NT4 SP6a and Windows 2000 Professional
No special graphics card required - 800x600x256 min.

A printer must be installed (local, network, virtual or generic print to file).

Limited Version Features

Draw a square to square - including offsets in 2 orthogonal directions

Stand Alone Windows application. CAD software not required.

Snap measuring feature in the user interface.

New: Recent files opened are added to the file menu.

Print a simple specification sheet for job cards or quotations

SnapBMP capture.

Print a full size or scaled template for pattern making and fabrication purposes.

Additional geometric properties calculated like the surface area and internal volume.

New user controlled pattern generation

Full Version Features

No Nag Screens or Nag Prints