Materials Calculator
With the new materials calculator in the viewer, you can quickly calculate your material needs to aid in the quoting process.
Bar and Rod
If a material has not been assigned, search for the material you want to use to calculate the material costs.
Then, enter the quantity you want to quote:
You can control other stock variables like the bar end length, the buffer around the part, the cut width, and cut tolerance based on your shop's capabilities and standards. Search Online Metals or Manual Entry of desired stock dimensions if the material is already on hand. Here is a list of the available materials when choosing Search Online Metals.
When ready, hit the "SUBMIT" button. After the calculation is done, you will see a visualization of the bars you will need in order to fulfill the order. The visualization shows the part, cuts, bar ends, and remaining material.
The suggested order will be displayed on the right. This gives you the optimal material order for making the desired quantities. A user can click on the material to be taken to the Online Metals site where they can see the material in more detail and add it to their cart.
The summary below the suggested order displays the unit price and subtotal for the material order.
Note: For rod stock, the part diameter is used instead of the height and width used in bar stock.
Sheet
Paperless Parts can unfold sheet metal parts. For calculating sheet metal material requirements, this unfolded geometry is used to identify how many parts can be packed onto sheets.
If there is no material assigned to the Select a material by clicking on the menu items or typing in material to search for:
You can modify variables including the thickness you want to use for the part, the thickness tolerance which will guide what sheet thicknesses will be displayed from OnlineMetals, a part buffer that dictates how close together parts will be packed, and edge buffer which dictates how far from the edge parts will be placed.
Once you have set these variables, click on the "Find Sheets" button to see sheet matches from Online Metals.
Select the sheet you want to use and specify the quantity you need to quote. Then, click on Pack Sheet.
The calculation results will be displayed as follows:
In the viewer, you will see how the parts will be packed on the sheet. The first sheet shows the fully packed sheet and the second sheet shows the partial utilization of the last sheet.
Key for understanding the results:
- SIZE - Sheet size selected
- PARTS/SHEET - Parts Per Sheet
- # OF SHEETS - Number of sheets needed
- PRICE - The price for a single sheet
Users can click on the price to take them to Online Metals to see the exact sheet they need.
The unit price, part quantity, and subtotal are also shown in the results.
Note: You can also use 2D CAD files like DXFs and DWGs. There is also the option to enter Manual Part Size.